LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Lane Detection ( Part I ) : Mono-Vision Based Method

In this report, we introduce a mono-vision based lane detection method (pure mono-vision without the aide of any other sensor). The lane detection method consists of the sub-parts of lane mark segment extraction, lane model fitting, and lane tracking. The lane mark segment extractor is based on some criteria that are only related to the inherent physical properties of the lane marks. The lane model is parameterized in the world (the ground plane) reference instead of in the image reference. The lane tracking is carried out in the framework of the particle filter, including the evolution and the update of the lane state; a mechanism that executes on-line estimation of the vehicle pitch angle is naturally incorporated in the lane tracking process. Read-data tests are given to demonstrate the performance of the mono-vision based lane detection method. Key-Words: lane detection, mono-vision, inverse perspective mapping, lane tracking, particle filter * Hao LI: Imara, INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt, hao.li@inria.fr † Fawzi NASHASHIBI: Imara, INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt, fawzi.nashashibi@inria.fr ha l-0 07 81 27 4, v er si on 1 25 J an 2 01 3 Reconnaissance de Voie (Part I) : Méthode Fondée Sur Vision-Monoculaire Résumé : Dans ce rapport, on a introduit une méthode de la reconnaissance de voie fondée sur vision-monoculaire (pure vision-monoculaire sans l’aide de aucune capteur). La méthode de la reconnaissance de voie consiste des sousparts de l’extraction de marquages routiers, ajustement du modèle de voie, et le pistage de voie. L’extracteur de marquages routiers se fonde sur des critères qui ne sont reliés qu’aux traits physiques inhérents des marquages routiers. Le modèle de voie se paramètre dans le repère mondial (le plan du sol) au lieu du repère de l’image. Le pistage de voie se met en œuvre dans l’architecture du filtre particulaire, y compris l’évolution et la mise à jour de l’état de voie ; un mécanisme qui exécute l’estimation en ligne de l’angle tangage du véhicule est intégré naturellement dans le processus du pistage de voie. L’expérimentation aux données réelles a été conduite pour montrer la performance de la méthode de la reconnaissance de voie fondée sur visionmonoculaire. Mots-Clés : reconnaissance de voie, vision-monoculaire, projection perspective inverse, pistage de voie, filtre particulaire ha l-0 07 81 27 4, v er si on 1 25 J an 2 01 3 Lane Detection (Part I): Mono-Vision Based Method 5 RT n 433
Towards the prevention of acute lung injury: a population based cohort study protocol

BackgroundAcute lung injury (ALI) is an example of a critical care syndrome with limited treatment options once the condition is fully established. Despite improved understanding of pathophysiology of ALI, the clinical impact has been limited to improvements in supportive treatment. On the other hand, little has been done on the prevention of ALI. Olmsted County, MN, geographically isolated from other urban areas offers the opportunity to study clinical pathogenesis of ALI in a search for potential prevention targets.Methods/DesignIn this population-based observational cohort study, the investigators identify patients at high risk of ALI using the prediction model applied within the first six hours of hospital admission. Using a validated system-wide electronic surveillance, Olmsted County patients at risk are followed until ALI, death or hospital discharge. Detailed in-hospital (second hit) exposures and meaningful short and long term outcomes (quality-adjusted survival) are compared between ALI cases and high risk controls matched by age, gender and probability of developing ALI. Time sensitive biospecimens are collected for collaborative research studies. Nested case control comparison of 500 patients who developed ALI with 500 matched controls will provide an adequate power to determine significant differences in common hospital exposures and outcomes between the two groups.DiscussionThis population-based observational cohort study will identify patients at high risk early in the course of disease, the burden of ALI in the community, and the potential targets for future prevention trials.
Reactivation of genital herpes simplex virus type 2 infection in asymptomatic seropositive persons.

BACKGROUND
Most persons who have serologic evidence of infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 (HSV-2) are asymptomatic. Historically, it has been assumed that these persons have less frequent viral reactivation than those with symptomatic infection.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective study to investigate genital shedding of HSV among 53 subjects who had antibodies to HSV-2 but who reported having no history of genital herpes, and we compared their patterns of viral shedding with those in a similar cohort of 90 subjects with symptomatic HSV-2 infection. Genital secretions of the subjects in both groups were sampled daily and cultured for HSV for a median of 94 days.


RESULTS
HSV was isolated from the genital mucosa in 38 of the 53 HSV-2-seropositive subjects (72 percent) who reported no history of genital herpes, and HSV DNA was detected by the polymerase-chain-reaction assay in cultures prepared from genital mucosal swabs in 6 additional subjects. The rate of subclinical shedding of HSV in the subjects with no reported history of genital herpes was similar to that in the subjects with such a history (3.0 percent vs. 2.7 percent). Of the 53 subjects who had no reported history of genital herpes, 33 (62 percent) subsequently reported having typical herpetic lesions; the duration of their recurrences in these subjects was shorter (median, three days vs. five days; P<0.001) and the frequency lower (median, 3.0 per year vs. 8.2 per year; P<0.001) than in the 90 subjects with previously diagnosed symptomatic infection. Only 1 of these 53 subjects had no clinical or virologic evidence of HSV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
Seropositivity for HSV-2 is associated with viral shedding in the genital tract, even in subjects with no reported history of genital herpes.
Public Opinion Research as Science

The author here describes various functions and uses of public opinion research, compares it with other scientific disciplines, and suggests a new concentration on the development of conceptual frameworks for organizing the current mass of empirical data. This paper is the Presidential Address presented before the Eleventh Annual Conference on Public Opinion Research at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania. Harry Alpert, of the National Science Foundation,** was the 1955-56 President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Endovascular thrombectomy and thrombolysis for severe cerebral sinus thrombosis: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Most patients with cerebral sinus thrombosis (CST) recover after treatment with heparin, but a subgroup has a poor prognosis. Those patients may benefit from endovascular thrombolysis.


METHODS
Prospective case series. Patients with sinus thrombosis were selected for thrombolysis if they had an altered mental status, coma, straight sinus thrombosis, or large space-occupying lesions. Urokinase was infused into the sinuses (bolus 120 to 600 x 10(3) U; then 100 x 10(3) U/h) via a jugular catheter, in 15 cases combined with mechanical thrombus disruption or removal.


RESULTS
We treated 20 patients (16 women), mean age 32 years. Twelve patients were comatose and 14 had hemorrhagic infarcts before thrombolysis. Twelve patients recovered (Rankin score 0 to 2), 2 survived with handicaps, and 6 died. Factors associated with a fatal outcome were leukemia (3/6 versus 0/14, P=0.02) and large hemorrhagic infarcts (4/6 versus 2/14, P=0.04). Seizures were less frequent in the fatal cases (P=0.05). Patients who died had a larger mean lesion surface than survivors (30.5 versus 13.6 cm(2); P=0.03), larger midline shift (5.2 versus 1.7 mm; P=0.02), and a more rapid course (2.7 versus 8.2 days; P=0.01). Five patients who died had large hemispheric infarcts and edema before thrombolysis, causing herniation. Five patients had increased cerebral hemorrhage (3 minor, 2 major) after thrombolysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Thrombolysis can be effective for severe sinus thrombosis, but patients may deteriorate because of increased cerebral hemorrhage. Patients with large infarcts and impending herniation did not benefit.
Independence and dependency: Options and constraints for women over the life course

Abstract In western countries, social policies emerged to compensate impacts which result from an unequal distribution of bargaining power in modern market economies. Thus, they provide some options to avoid disadvantageous working conditions. However, by counteracting unequal bargaining situations, social policies produce new inequalities. In all western societies, social policies tend to treat women as workers of a special kind. Some treat women as individuals and citizens; others primarily as mothers or wives, as different but equal, or, in contrast, along the principle of “sameness.” In each case, women's life chances, their life course, and the relationship between independence and dependency are affected in a peculiar way. This article examines the relationship between independence and dependence built into various welfare regimes from a woman's point of view: Which regime helps best to combine both—a family and paid work?
A Brief Review of Known Effects of Noise on Marine Mammals - eScholarship

Marine mammals, especially cetaceans, are highly vocal and dependent on sound for almost all aspects of their lives, e.g. food-finding, reproduction, communication, detection of predators/hazards, and navigation. They are thus likely sensitive to anthropogenic noise. Sound has a large potential area of impact, sometimes covering millions of square kilometers of ocean with levels high enough to cause possible disturbance in marine mammals. There can be great variation in the reaction of marine mammals to noise, depending on such factors as species, individual, age, sex, prior experience with noise, and behavioral state. Species with similar hearing capabilities can respond differently to the same noise. Observed effects of noise on marine mammals include: changes in vocalizations, respiration, swim speed, diving, and foraging behavior; displacement, avoidance, shifts in migration path, stress, hearing damage, and strandings. Responses of marine mammals to noise can often be subtle and barely detectable, and there are many documented cases of apparent tolerance of noise. However, marine mammals showing no obvious avoidance or changes in activities may still suffer important, even lethal, consequences. Acoustically-induced strandings may displace a local beaked whale (Ziphiidae) population (for an extended period if not permanently) or even possibly eliminate most of its members. As beaked whales seem to be found in small, possibly genetically isolated, resident populations, even a transient and localized acoustic impact could have prolonged population consequences. Observed reactions to noise in marine mammals could theoretically result in impacts such as decreased foraging efficiency, higher energetic demands, less group cohesion, higher predation, decreased reproduction, and thus seriously impact the population. Alternatively, they may be harmless. However, noise is thought to contribute to at least some species’ declines or lack of recovery (Southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca), western gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) off Sakhalin).
LibGuides: KS3 Geography - Geography of Chocolate: Resources

A guide to resources about the Geography of Chocolate to support your year 7 Geography topic, compiled by your librarians.
Brand Portfolio Strategy Effects on Firm Value and Risks

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the effects of brand portfolio strategy on shareholder value and risk. Although previous research has shown that Branded House strategies in which all firm offerings are presented using the corporate umbrella brand generate higher values of Tobin’s q than House of Brands strategies in which separate brands are cultivated, the risk profiles of these alternate portfolio approaches have not yet been considered. Additionally, previous research ignores important nuances in brand portfolio strategy that are made salient when considering strategic variations on pure Branded House (BH) and House of Brands (HOB) strategies: namely, sub-branding and endorsed branding. We address these gaps by estimating the Carhart four-factor financial model to assess three components of shareholder value (levels of returns, systematic risk, and idiosyncratic risk) and relate them to five strategies along the brand portfolio continuum: branded house, sub-branding, endorsed branding, house of brands and a hybrid strategy including some combination of these. Using the moving window method-based regression analysis to evaluate the impact of brand portfolio strategy on firm value, we find that sub-branding, a variant on the branded house strategy wherein the corporate umbrella brand retains or shares the purchase driver role but is linked prominently to a different branded offering (e.g., Apple IPod), outperforms all other strategic options in returns, but at high levels of risk. In terms of improving the firm’s risk profile, we find outperformance for strategies that create separation (house of brands) or distance (endorsed branding) from the corporate brand. Hybrid/mixed strategies, the most common approach in our database, present a worst case scenario in financial performance, with the lowest returns but with higher levels of risk. Our results support sophistication within the financial community concerning the risk/return profiles of the different brand portfolio options. Results also caution against the seemingly ad-hoc choices managers make in designing their brand portfolios, and inform conventional managerial wisdom that assumes the “best of all worlds” through portfolio strategies that connect and leverage both separate and corporate brands.
E-Business Data Warehouse Design and Implementation

E-Business have a variety of on-line transaction processing (OLTP) systems and operational database. Data Warehouse is different from operational database. A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, and non-volatile collection of data in support of management's decision-making process. The features of Data Warehouse cause the its design process and strategies to be different from the ones for OLTP Systems. This paper presents a brief description of approaches that address the data warehouse Design and Implementation for E-business.
Monte Carlo sampling methods using Markov chains and their applications

A generalization of the sampling method introduced by Metropolis et al. (1953) is presented along with an exposition of the relevant theory, techniques of application and methods and difficulties of assessing the error in Monte Carlo estimates. Examples of the methods, including the generation of random orthogonal matrices and potential applications of the methods to numerical problems arising in statistics, are discussed.
The Law of Population and the Austrian School

There has been considerable debate within the social sciences about the consequences of rapid population growth. The law of population, as described by Thomas Robert Malthus, asserts that population growth is ultimately limited by the means of subsistence, and therefore preventive checks on population growth (e.g., voluntarily limiting the number of births) are necessary to avoid the grim prospect of inevitable human suffering when the means of subsistence cannot support the population. Economists, demographers, and other social scientists have produced volumes of exegesis on Malthus's work. This article assesses how representative economists of the Austrian School have interacted with Malthus's law of population. Copyright © 2010 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc..
The effect of inhalation of Citrus sinensis flowers and Mentha spicata leave essential oils on lung function and exercise performance: a quasi-experimental uncontrolled before-and-after study

BACKGROUND
Recently, there has been an increased interest in the effects of essential oils on athletic performances and other physiological effects. This study aimed to assess the effects of Citrus sinensis flower and Mentha spicata leaves essential oils inhalation in two different groups of athlete male students on their exercise performance and lung function.


METHODS
Twenty physical education students volunteered to participate in the study. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups: Mentha spicata and Citrus sinensis (ten participants each). One group was nebulized by Citrus sinensis flower oil and the other by Mentha spicata leaves oil in a concentration of (0.02 ml/kg of body mass) which was mixed with 2 ml of normal saline for 5 min before a 1500 m running tests. Lung function tests were measured using a spirometer for each student pre and post nebulization giving the same running distance pre and post oils inhalation.


RESULTS
A lung function tests showed an improvement on the lung status for the students after inhaling of the oils. Interestingly, there was a significant increase in Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second and Forced Vital Capacity after inhalation for the both oils. Moreover significant reductions in the means of the running time were observed among these two groups. The normal spirometry results were 50 %, while after inhalation with M. spicata oil the ratio were 60 %.


CONCLUSION
Our findings support the effectiveness of M. spicata and C. sinensis essential oils on the exercise performance and respiratory function parameters. However, our conclusion and generalisability of our results should be interpreted with caution due to small sample size and lack of control groups, randomization or masking. We recommend further investigations to explain the mechanism of actions for these two essential oils on exercise performance and respiratory parameters.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ISRCTN10133422, Registered: May 3, 2016.
Does mud pack treatment have any chemical effect? A randomized controlled clinical study.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to reveal the efficacy of mud pack treatment in patients with knee osteoarthritis and to find the contribution of chemical factors to the build up of these effects.


METHODS
Sixty patients were randomly assigned to directly applied mud pack (study) group or to nylon-covered mud pack (control) group. Thirty patients in the study group had mud application 15 times to both knees: heated mud, up to 43 degrees C, was applied to skin directly for 30 minutes. Thirty patients in the control group had the same treatment as the study group except heated mud was applied over an impermeable nylon pack. Primary outcome measures of the study were the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) index, pain intensity on a visual analog scale (VAS), patient's assessment of disease severity index, physician's assessment of disease severity index, and analgesic consumption. The patients were evaluated before and after (end of 15th application) the intervention and followed up for 24 weeks at 4-week intervals. The results were assessed on an intent-to-treat basis.


RESULTS
As compared to the baseline, significant decreases were observed in WOMAC, pain intensity, disease severity index scores, and analgesic consumption in both groups after the intervention. Observed improvements in the study group were found to be superior to the control during the whole postintervention follow-up, except for analgesic consumption in the third week. A significant number of patients in the study group showed minimal clinically important improvement as compared to the control group.


CONCLUSION
Mud pack treatment significantly improved the pain and functional status of patients with knee osteoarthritis, whether applied directly or coated with nylon. Direct application was found to be superior, which implies chemical properties of the mud contribute to the build up of therapeutic effect.
Is glaucoma comprehension associated with psychological disturbance and vision-related quality of life for patients with glaucoma? A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether understanding of glaucoma is associated with psychological disturbance and vision-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with glaucoma.


DESIGN
A prospective, hospital-based, cross-sectional study.


SETTING
Shanghai, China.


PARTICIPANTS
Five hundred patients with glaucoma were included in the study. Participants were asked to complete the glaucoma comprehension questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25).


OUTCOME MEASURES
Sociodemographic data and clinical data were collected. Multivariate adjusted linear regression analyses were performed to examine factors related to psychological disorder and QoL. The relationship between understanding of glaucoma and psychological status or QoL was analysed.


RESULTS
The mean age of patients was 56.5±17.2 years, and the mean duration of glaucoma was 4.6±6.3 years. About half (54.2%) of the patients had primary open angle glaucoma, 37.2% had primary angle closure glaucoma, and 8.6% had secondary glaucoma. The total score and the subscores of knowledge of glaucoma, compliance and habits were all negatively correlated with the HADS-Depression and HADS scores. For NEI VFQ-25, the total comprehension score was positively related to general vision, near activity, distance activity, social function, colour vision and the composite score. Habits had a significant influence on both HADS-Depression and the composite score of NEI VFQ-25.


CONCLUSIONS
The level of understanding about glaucoma is an independent factor negatively associated with psychological disturbance and positively associated with QoL in patients with glaucoma. However, it is a subjective factor which can be regulated, so imparting knowledge about glaucoma and establishing appropriate habits might help patients alleviate psychological disturbance and enhance their QoL.