Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Explaining How a Deep Neural Network Trained with End-to-End Learning Steers a Car

As part of a complete software stack for autonomous driving, NVIDIA has created a neural-network-based system, known as PilotNet, which outputs steering angles given images of the road ahead. PilotNet is trained using road images paired with the steering angles generated by a human driving a data-collection car. It derives the necessary domain knowledge by observing human drivers. This eliminates the need for human engineers to anticipate what is important in an image and foresee all the necessary rules for safe driving. Road tests demonstrated that PilotNet can successfully perform lane keeping in a wide variety of driving conditions, regardless of whether lane markings are present or not. The goal of the work described here is to explain what PilotNet learns and how it makes its decisions. To this end we developed a method for determining which elements in the road image most influence PilotNet's steering decision. Results show that PilotNet indeed learns to recognize relevant objects on the road. In addition to learning the obvious features such as lane markings, edges of roads, and other cars, PilotNet learns more subtle features that would be hard to anticipate and program by engineers, for example, bushes lining the edge of the road and atypical vehicle classes.
SourceSeer: Forecasting Rare Disease Outbreaks Using Multiple Data Sources

Rapidly increasing volumes of news feeds from diverse data sources, such as online newspapers, Twitter and online blogs are proving to be extremely valuable resources in helping anticipate, detect, and forecast outbreaks of rare diseases. This paper presents SourceSeer, a novel algorithmic framework that combines spatio-temporal topic models with sourcebased anomaly detection techniques to effectively forecast the emergence and progression of infectious rare diseases. SourceSeer is capable of discovering the location focus of each source allowing sources to be used as experts with varying degrees of authoritativeness. To fuse the individual source predictions into a final outbreak prediction we employ a multiplicative weights algorithm taking into account the accuracy of each source. We evaluate the performance of SourceSeer using incidence data for hantavirus syndromes in multiple countries of Latin America provided by HealthMap over a timespan of fifteen months. We demonstrate that SourceSeer makes predictions of increased accuracy compared to several baselines and is capable of forecasting disease outbreaks in a timely manner even when no outbreaks were previously reported.
Research on a Nonwoven Fabric Made from Multi-Block Biodegradable Copolymer Based on l-Lactide, Glycolide, and Trimethylene Carbonate with Shape Memory

The presented paper concerns scientific research on processing a poly(lactide-co-glycolide-co-trimethylene carbonate) copolymer (PLLAGLTMC) with thermally induced shape memory and a transition temperature around human body temperature. The material in the literature called terpolymer was used to produce smart, nonwoven fabric with the melt blowing technique. Bioresorbable and biocompatible terpolymers with shape memory have been investigated for its medical applications, such as cardiovascular stents. There are several research studies on shape memory in polymers, but this phenomenon has not been widely studied in textile products made from shape memory polymers (SMPs). The current research aims to explore the characteristics of the PLLAGLTMC nonwoven fabric in detail and the mechanism of its shape memory behavior. In this study, the nonwoven fabric was subjected to thermo-mechanical, morphological, and shape memory analysis. The thermo-mechanical and structural properties were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, scanning electron microscopic examination, and mercury porosimetry measurements. Eventually, the gathered results confirmed that the nonwoven fabric possessed characteristics that classified it as a smart material with potential applications in medicine.
Activation of Human Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4)·Myeloid Differentiation Factor 2 (MD-2) by Hypoacylated Lipopolysaccharide from a Clinical Isolate of Burkholderia cenocepacia*

Background: The Burkholderia cenocepacia lipid A is hypoacylated. Results: Aminoarabinose residues in lipid A contribute to Burkholderia lipid A binding to the TLR4·MD-2 complex. Conclusion: A novel mode of Burkholderia lipopolysaccharide-TLR4·MD-2 interactions promotes inflammation. Significance: Modifications of the lipid A structure enhance proinflammatory responses of hypoacylated lipopolysaccharide. Lung infection by Burkholderia species, in particular Burkholderia cenocepacia, accelerates tissue damage and increases post-lung transplant mortality in cystic fibrosis patients. Host-microbe interplay largely depends on interactions between pathogen-specific molecules and innate immune receptors such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which recognizes the lipid A moiety of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The human TLR4·myeloid differentiation factor 2 (MD-2) LPS receptor complex is strongly activated by hexa-acylated lipid A and poorly activated by underacylated lipid A. Here, we report that B. cenocepacia LPS strongly activates human TLR4·MD-2 despite its lipid A having only five acyl chains. Furthermore, we show that aminoarabinose residues in lipid A contribute to TLR4-lipid A interactions, and experiments in a mouse model of LPS-induced endotoxic shock confirmed the proinflammatory potential of B. cenocepacia penta-acylated lipid A. Molecular modeling combined with mutagenesis of TLR4-MD-2 interactive surfaces suggests that longer acyl chains and the aminoarabinose residues in the B. cenocepacia lipid A allow exposure of the fifth acyl chain on the surface of MD-2 enabling interactions with TLR4 and its dimerization. Our results provide a molecular model for activation of the human TLR4·MD-2 complex by penta-acylated lipid A explaining the ability of hypoacylated B. cenocepacia LPS to promote proinflammatory responses associated with the severe pathogenicity of this opportunistic bacterium.
Colour Doppler examination of early and late orbital haemodynamic changes in eyes with eyelid oedema due to blunt trauma.

PURPOSE To evaluate the early and late alterations in orbital blood flow parameters in eyes with severe eyelid swelling due to blunt trauma by using colour Doppler ultrasonography (CDU). METHODS Blood flow parameters in the ophthalmic artery (OA), central retinal artery (CRA), short posterior ciliary arteries (SPCAs) and central retinal vein (CRV) were examined by CDU in 62 eyes of 31 patients with unilateral blunt trauma and in 32 eyes of 32 normal subjects. Patients were examined within the first 5 days and at least 1 month after trauma. The traumatized eyes of patients were designated 'trauma eyes', non-traumatized fellow eyes were designated 'fellow eyes', and randomly chosen eyes of control subjects 'control eyes'. RESULTS In the early phase, peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end diastolic velocity (EDV) in the OA in trauma eyes were statistically significantly higher than in both fellow eyes and control eyes: the p-values for the differences in PSV and EDV between trauma eyes and fellow eyes were p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively, while the p-values for the differences in PSV and EDV between trauma eyes and control eyes were p = 0.002 and p = 0.019, respectively). No other blood flow parameters obtained at the first examination in all groups were statistically different. In the late phase, PSV in the OA in trauma eyes was found to be higher than that in both fellow eyes and control eyes, but the difference was significant only between trauma eyes and fellow eyes (p = 0.028). End diastolic velocity in the CRA was statistically significantly lower in fellow eyes than in control eyes (p = 0.046). No other blood flow parameters in any vessels examined in fellow eyes and control eyes were statistically significantly different during the study period. CONCLUSION Blood flow velocities detected by CDU are increased in the OA in eyes with eyelid oedema due to blunt trauma and some of these changes may persist for up to 1 month. This effect seems to be a consequence of trauma-induced hyperaemia in the orbital soft tissues rather than an expression of traumatic choroidal vasculopathy.
Filter Paper Blood Spot Enzyme Linked Immunoassay for Adiponectin and Application in the Evaluation of Determinants of Child Insulin Sensitivity

Background Adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived hormone that acts as a marker of insulin sensitivity. Bloodspot sampling by fingerstick onto filter paper may increase the feasibility of large-scale studies of the determinants of insulin sensitivity. We first describe the validation of an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for quantifying adiponectin from dried blood spots and then demonstrate its application in a large trial (PROBIT). Methods We quantified adiponectin from 3-mm diameter discs (≈3 µL of blood) punched from dried blood spots obtained from: i) whole blood standards (validation); and ii) PROBIT trial samples (application) in which paediatricians collected blood spots from 13,879 children aged 11.5 years from 31 sites across Belarus. We examined the distribution of bloodspot adiponectin by demographic and anthropometric factors, fasting insulin and glucose. Results In the validation study, mean intra-assay coefficients of variation (n = 162) were 15%, 13% and 10% for ‘low’ (6.78 µg/ml), ‘medium’ (18.18 µg/ml) and 'high’ (33.13 µg/ml) internal quality control (IQC) samples, respectively; the respective inter-assay values (n = 40) were 23%, 21% and 14%. The correlation coefficient between 50 paired whole bloodspot versus plasma samples, collected simultaneously, was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.78 to 0.93). Recovery of known quantities of adiponectin (between 4.5 to 36 µg/ml) was 100.3–133%. Bloodspot adiponectin was stable for at least 30 months at −80°C. In PROBIT, we successfully quantified fasting adiponectin from dried blood spots in 13,329 of 13,879 (96%) children. Mean adiponectin (standard deviation) concentrations were 17.34 µg/ml (7.54) in boys and 18.41 µg/ml (7.92) in girls and were inversely associated with body mass index, fat mass, triceps and subscapular skin-fold thickness, waist circumference, height and fasting glucose. Conclusions Bloodspot ELISA is suitable for measuring adiponectin in very small volumes of blood collected on filter paper and can be applied to large-scale studies.
Production of Anti-platelet Factor 4/Heparin Complex Antibodies After Cardiovascular Surgery

To study the production of anti-platelet factor 4 (anti-PF4)/heparin complex antibodies of Ig (immunoglobulin) G/IgA/IgM using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; heparin-induced thrombocytopenia [HIT] antibodies) in 79 patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery, we employed Δoptical density (OD) as a marker of HIT-antibody production. The ΔODs were calculated from the differences in the ODs using ELISA. Patient were classified into 3 ΔOD ranges: ΔOD ≥ 1.0, ΔOD ≥ 0.4 to <1.0, and ΔOD < 0.4. The underlying disease, time course of the postoperative platelet count, d-dimer level, postoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), use of cardiopulmonary bypass and postoperative thrombocytosis were not considered for the 3 ΔOD classifications. None of the 6 patients with ΔOD ≥1.0 and a positive functional assay was diagnosed with HIT due to the absence of HIT-derived thrombocytopenia. In conclusion, HIT-antibody production increased until day 7 after heparin cessation and reached a trace level on day 14. It was demonstrated that HIT-antibody production is in remission unless there is any evidence of a further increase during the second week postsurgery.
Exposure Modelling of Extremely Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields from Overhead Power Lines and Its Validation by Measurements

A three-dimensional model for calculating long term exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields from high-voltage overhead power lines is presented, as well as its validation by measurements. For the validation, the model was applied to two different high-voltage overhead power lines in Iffwil and Wiler (Switzerland). In order to capture the daily and seasonal variations, each measurement was taken for 48 h and the measurements were carried out six times at each site, at intervals of approximately two months, between January and December 2015. During each measurement, a lateral transect of the magnetic flux density was determined in the middle of a span from nine measurement points in the range of ±80 m. The technical data of both the lines as well as the load flow data during the measurement periods were provided by the grid operators. These data were used to calculate 48 h averages of the absolute value of the magnetic flux density and compared with modelled values. The highest 48 h average was 1.66 µT (centre of the line in Iffwil); the lowest 48 h average was 22 nT (80 m distance from the centre line in Iffwil). On average, the magnetic flux density was overestimated by 2% (standard deviation: 9%) in Iffwil and underestimated by 1% (8%) in Wiler. Sensitivity analyses showed that the uncertainty is mainly driven by errors in the coordinates and height data. In particular, for predictions near the centre of the line, an accurate digital terrain model is critical.
Event Extraction Using Distant Supervision

Distant supervision is a successful paradigm that gathers training data for information extraction systems by automatically aligning vast databases of facts with text. Previous work has demonstrated its usefulness for the extraction of binary relations such as a person’s employer or a film’s director. Here, we extend the distant supervision approach to template-based event extraction, focusing on the extraction of passenger counts, aircraft types, and other facts concerning airplane crash events. We present a new publicly available dataset and event extraction task in the plane crash domain based on Wikipedia infoboxes and newswire text. Using this dataset, we conduct a preliminary evaluation of four distantly supervised extraction models which assign named entity mentions in text to entries in the event template. Our results indicate that joint inference over sequences of candidate entity mentions is beneficial. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Searn algorithm outperforms a linear-chain CRF and strong baselines with local inference.
Evaluation of Rutting and Deformation Strength Properties of Polymer Modified SMA Mixtures

In general, it is well known fact that the stone mastic asphalt (SMA) pavement has a high resistance against rutting. However, performance of SMA is not well measured by general method used in the laboratory. The objective of this study is to investigate an applicability of deformation strength ( ) for performance estimation of SMA, and to find out the correlation between rut depth and dynamic stability, and of SMA. This study carried out wheel tracking test and Kim-test with optimum asphalt content (OAC) determined by mix design. The results indicated that the of SMA was very poorer than those of dense-graded asphalt mixtures. showed similar WT dynamic stability and rut-depth level. It was found that Kim-test was not reflected higher rutting resistance of SMA like as indirect tensile strength (ITS) test and Marshall stability test. Also, it was revealed that dynamic stability and rut-depth of WT had some problems to estimate rutting resistance of SMA mixtures.
To Align or Not to Align: Topology Management in Asymmetric Interference Networks

Interference alignment (IA) is a promising technique for interference management in wireless networks. However, most of the existing IA works are based on symmetric multiuser networks. To meet the requirements of practical applications, we consider asymmetric networks where the location of each user is randomly distributed. When the path loss is large, interference may become sufficiently weak, and aligning the interference via IA becomes unnecessary. In this paper, a spectrum-efficient topology management (TM) scheme is proposed for asymmetric interference networks. In this scheme, for a user far away from others, solely adopting spatial multiplexing (SM) as a point-to-point multiple-input and multiple-output subnetwork is more spectrum efficient. On the other hand, for the users close to each other, jointly comprising an IA subnetwork can be the better choice. Thus, we first present the decision criterion, which is used for reinterpreting the network as a graph. Then, the TM scheme is elaborated with the graph theory. In addition, we present the designs of the precoding and decoding matrices for the IA and SM subnetworks. Simulation results show that the proposed TM scheme is much more spectrum efficient than the conventional IA scheme in asymmetric interference networks.
Cross-Lingual Named Entity Recognition via Wikification

Named Entity Recognition (NER) models for language L are typically trained using annotated data in that language. We study cross-lingual NER , where a model for NER in L is trained on another, source, language (or multiple source languages). We introduce a language independent method for NER, building on cross-lingual wikiﬁcation, a technique that grounds words and phrases in non-English text into English Wikipedia entries. Thus, mentions in any language can be described using a set of categories and FreeBase types, yielding, as we show, strong language-independent features. With this insight, we propose an NER model that can be applied to all languages in Wikipedia. When trained on English, our model outperforms comparable approaches on the standard CoNLL datasets (Spanish, German, and Dutch) and also performs very well on low-resource languages (e.g., Turkish, Taga-log, Yoruba, Bengali, and Tamil) that have signiﬁcantly smaller Wikipedia. More-over, our method allows us to train on multiple source languages, typically improving NER results on the target languages. Finally, we show that our language-independent features can be used also to enhance monolingual NER systems, yielding improved results for all 9 languages.
A New Intermolecular Potential Model for the n-Alkane Homologous Series

A new model for the n-alkane homologous series has been developed, parametrized to the vapor−liquid coexistence properties for a range of chain lengths. The model utilizes the Buckingham exponential-6 potential to describe the nonbonded interaction energy. Histogram reweighting grand canonical Monte Carlo methods were used to determine the model parameters. The new model reproduces the experimental saturated liquid and vapor densities and vapor pressures for ethane through octane to within average absolute deviations of 0.5%, 2.1%, and 2.2% respectively. Critical temperatures and densities were also found to be in good agreement with experiment. Critical pressures are slightly overestimated for longer chain lengths. Comparisons were made to the TraPPE [J. Phys. Chem. B 1998, 102, 2569. ] and NERD [J. Chem. Phys. 1998, 108, 9905. ] models. The two previous models reproduce the liquid properties with comparable accuracy to the proposed model; however, the new model was found to describe the vapor pressures mo.
Does Fluoride in Compomers Prevent Future Caries in Children?

Compomer restorations release fluoride to help prevent future caries. We tested the hypothesis that compomer is associated with fewer future caries compared with amalgam. The five-year New England Children’s Amalgam Trial recruited 534 children aged 6–10 yrs with ≥ 2 carious posterior teeth. Children were randomized to receive compomer or amalgam restorations in primary posterior teeth, placed with a fluoride-releasing bonding agent. The association between restorative material and future caries was assessed by survival analysis. Average follow-up of restorations (N = 1085 compomer, 954 amalgams) was 2.8 + 1.4 yrs in 441 children. No significant difference between materials was found in the rate of new caries on different surfaces of the same tooth. Incident caries on other teeth appeared slightly more quickly after placement of compomer restorations (p = 0.007), but the difference was negligible after 5 yrs. Under the conditions of this trial, we found no preventive benefit to fluoride-releasing compomer compared with amalgam.
Mapping the Origins of Time: Scalar Errors in Infant Time Estimation

Time is central to any understanding of the world. In adults, estimation errors grow linearly with the length of the interval, much faster than would be expected of a clock-like mechanism. Here we present the first direct demonstration that this is also true in human infants. Using an eye-tracking paradigm, we examined 4-, 6-, 10-, and 14-month-olds’ responses to the omission of a recurring target, on either a 3- or 5-s cycle. At all ages (a) both fixation and pupil dilation measures were time locked to the periodicity of the test interval, and (b) estimation errors grew linearly with the length of the interval, suggesting that trademark interval timing is in place from 4 months.
Superoxide Dismutase Is Induced During Rat Pancreatic Acinar Cell Injury

Introduction Free radicals and their scavengers are supposed to be involved in pancreatitis. Aims To investigate the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in rat pancreatic acinar cell injury. Methodology and Results As an in vivo model, male WBN/Kob rats were used. Chronic pancreatitis developed spontaneously at 12 weeks in this model and progressed thereafter, but acinar regeneration was recognized at 20 weeks. By semi-quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), manganese SOD (MnSOD) mRNA expression peaked at 8 and 20 weeks, whereas copper/zinc SOD (CuZnSOD) mRNA expression peaked at 12 and 20 weeks. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the localization of SOD in acinar cells. Acinar cell apoptosis peaked at 12 and 20 weeks. In an in vitro study, MnSOD mRNA expression peaked at 2 hours after the addition of arginine to culture medium, whereas apoptosis was increased at 24 hours. Conclusion Thus, the induction of SOD around the onset and at the late stage of chronic pancreatitis in the WBN/Kob rats implies pancreatic ischemia and acinar remodeling, respectively. From the in vitro results, MnSOD expression might reflect a defensive mechanism of acinar cells against oxidative stress or pro-apoptotic stimuli.