Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Robotic Swarm Contamination Problem

The problem of reaching a consensus in a swarm of robots has been widely examined in the literature. In this paper we introduce the contamination problem, a new version of the consensus problem in which the robots' influence to adopt a certain value towards a consensus is based on both external factors (its surroundings) and its internal state. The problem's innovation is in the combination of two aspects: first, the existence of adversarial forces that may intentionally act to divert the robots from a desired consensus, and an asymmetry of state transition, that is, a robot may have a stronger tendency to change from one state to another, compared to the other way around. We provide a theoretical analysis of formation creation as a mean to guarantee consensus, and an empirical evaluation—both in simulation and in real robots—demonstrating the influence of different robot behaviors and internal factors on the convergence time and value.
Justification of aggression against nurses: The effect of aggressor distress and nurse communication quality.

AIMS To explore conditions that contribute to justification of aggression against nurses. DESIGN A 2 (aggressor distress as reflected in stressful behavior: high vs. low) X 2 (target nurse's communication quality as reflected in provision of information and expression of caring: high vs. low) factorial design. Communication quality was operationalized as caring for half the respondents and information provision for the other half. METHODS Data were collected online in 2018. Respondents (N = 305) were presented with one of eight versions of a hypothetical vignette. Aggressor distress and caring were manipulated for half the participants and aggressor distress and information provision for the other half. After reading the vignette, respondents reported their attitudes toward the aggressor's behavior and sense of warmth toward the target nurse. Additional data collected included trait empathy (a control variable), demographic variables and responses to a manipulation check. Data were analyzed using analyses of variance. FINDINGS The results show main effects of aggressor distress and nurse communication quality on justification of aggression and sense of warmth toward the nurse. An interaction effect between aggressor distress and (poor) nurse information provision was found on justification of aggression. CONCLUSION The results extend extant research on the causes of aggression against nurses by highlighting a tendency to view certain circumstances as justifying such behavior. IMPACT The study explored conditions that increase the justification of aggression against nurses, from the perspective of a third party. The results show that aggressor's distress, as well as the attacked nurse's communication quality affect the justification of aggression. The results contribute to knowledge about the causes of aggression against nurses and highlight the need for healthcare policy and public education activities designed to undermine the view that aggression against nurses can be justified.
Solvation of Silver Ions in Noble Gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe.

We use a novel technique to solvate silver cations in small clusters of noble gases. The technique involves formation of large, superfluid helium nanodroplets that are subsequently electron ionized, mass-selected by deflection in an electric field, and doped with silver atoms and noble gases (Ng) in pickup cells. Excess helium is then stripped from the doped nanodroplets by multiple collisions with helium gas at room temperature, producing cluster ions that contain no more than a few dozen noble gas atoms and just a few (or no) silver atoms. Under gentle stripping conditions helium atoms remain attached to the cluster ions, demonstrating their low vibrational temperature. Under harsher stripping conditions some of the heavier noble gas atoms will be evaporated as well, thus enriching stable clusters NgnAgm+ at the expense of less stable ones. This results in local anomalies in the cluster ion abundance which is measured in a high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Based on these data we identify specific "magic" sizes n of particularly stable ions. There is no evidence though for enhanced stability of Ng2Ag+, in contrast to the high stability of Ng2Au+ that derives from the covalent nature of the bond for heavy noble gases. "Magic" sizes are also identified for Ag2+ dimer ions complexed with He or Kr. Structural models will be tentatively proposed. A sequence of magic numbers n = 12, 32, 44, indicative of three concentric solvation shells of icosahedral symmetry, is observed for HenH2O+.
Consumer Adoption of Digital Technologies for Lifestyle Monitoring

Despite their potential, the adoption of wearable devices has been relatively slow when compared to other digital technologies. This paper investigates, grounding on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the adoption by end users of digital technologies for lifestyle monitoring. Data on consumers' perception and usage of wearable devices have been collected through a survey administered to 1,000 Italian citizens and further analyzed through a Structural Equation Model approach. Results show that, above the functional value of the device, external influence, particularly doctor opinion, exerts an essential role in adoption. Online health literacy proves to be a relevant factor as well, showing the importance of cultural patterns in wearables diffusion. Implications for academicians, practitioners and policy-makers are provided.
Detection of Campylobacter species in different types of samples from dairy farms

Background Livestock, domestic pets and wildlife can be intestinal carriers of thermotolerant Campylobacter species. These reservoirs can in turn contaminate the environment and food products, thus creating pathways to campylobacteriosis in human beings. The purposes of this study were to investigate sampling strategies applied for surveillance of Campylobacter on dairy cattle farms and to identify the presence and species of Campylobacter in different age groups. Methods Boot sock and faecal samples were collected from five dairy herds from three age groups—cows, heifers and calves younger than 12 months—and from milk filters. Results Campylobacter species were isolated in 152 of 250 samples, of which 93 isolates were identified as C jejuni, 51 as C hyointestinalis, two as C lari and one as C coli, whereas five isolates could not be identified to species level. Campylobacter species were isolated from 86 of 110 faecal samples, 60 of 97 sock samples and six of 43 milk filter samples. Conclusion Faecal samples were the optimal sample type for detection of Campylobacter on dairy farms. However, taking multiple types of samples could be recommended in order to optimise the recovery rate and variety of Campylobacter species detected when investigating the presence of Campylobacter on dairy farms.
Integration of Ontogeny Into a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Model for Monoclonal Antibodies in Premature Infants

An understanding of pediatric pharmacokinetics (PK) is essential for first‐in‐pediatric dose selection and clinical trial design. At present, there is no reliable way to scale the PK of monoclonal antibodies and immunoglobulin G drug products from adults to young children or to premature infants—a vulnerable population with a rapidly growing drug development pipeline. In this work, pediatric physiologically based PK models are constructed in PK‐Sim and Mobi to explore the PK of pagibaximab, palivizumab, MEDI8897, and intravenous immunoglobulin in preterm infants. In addition to considering ontogeny in pediatric organ volumes, organ composition, blood flow rates, and hematocrit, advanced ontogeny is applied for 3 key parameters: capillary surface area, hematopoietic cell concentration, and lymph flow rate. The role and importance of each parameter for determining pediatric clearance (CL) and volume of distribution at steady state (VSS) are quantitatively assessed with a local sensitivity analysis. In addition, the uncertainty around parameters with limited information in pediatrics is addressed (eg, free neonatal Fc receptor concentration). The full ontogeny parameterization yields pediatric PK predictions that are within 1.5‐fold prediction error >90% of the time for preterm infants, with an absolute average fold error of 1.05. This result suggests that many of the key factors related to ontogeny are appropriately addressed. Overall, this study makes a first step toward developing a platform pediatric physiologically based PK model for monoclonal antibodies and immunoglobulin G drug products by solidifying existing parameterizations, integrating new concepts, and drawing attention to unmet needs for physiologic knowledge in children.
RECURRENCE RATE IN THE PILONIDAL SINUS AFTER EXCISION WITH OR WITHOUT PRIMARY CLOSURE

Introduction: Pilonidal sinuses typically occur in the sacrococcygeal skin of young adults and its treatment is surgery. The most common methods are excision with or without primary closure procedures. Considering that the recent researches have shown different results, we have compared the recurrence rate of pilonidal sinus using the 2 methods. Materials and Methods: The study was studied on 250 patients, who had gone under pilonidal sinus surgery for the first time at least 5 months ago. Recurrence rate and signs of recovery were studied. Patients with experience a painful period until 5 months after the surgery were excluded. Finally, 123 patients with open surgery and 127 with closed surgery were included. Results: Recurrence rate was 9.8% (12 cases) in open surgery and 11% (14 cases) in closed surgery. Probability of non- recurrence after 1,2 and 5 years were 99%, 95% and 91% after open surgery and 97%, 94% and 87% after closed surgery respectively. Type of surgery has no affect on pilonidal sinuses recurrence. Conclusion: Findings showed that there was not significant difference in the recurrence rate of pilonidal sinus after excision between with and without primary closure procedures. Regarding to less complication, excision and primary closure, as a preferred procedure in the management of pilonidal sinus disease, is recommended. Keywords: Pilonidal sinus, Recurrence, Surgery
An Eye Tracking Study of Anti-Smoking Messages on Toxic Chemicals in Cigarettes

The US Food and Drug Administration is tasked with communicating information to the public about the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke. Our study used eye tracking method to test the effectiveness of messages about the harmful chemicals in cigarettes smoke among adult smokers. A sample size of 211 current cigarette smokers viewed four communication messages that included: Health effects of a chemical in cigarette smoke and an image depicting the health effect. The messages focused on arsenic, formaldehyde, uranium, and general health. Eye tracking recorded the length of time participants viewed the text and the image. After each message, the participants were asked about the messages’ effectiveness in changing attitudes towards smoking. We analyzed the data using multilevel modeling, and of the 211 smokers, 59.7% were female, 36.5% were Black, and 21.3% had a high school degree or less. Compared to the general message, the messages about formaldehyde and uranium were more discouraging to smoking (p < 0.05). Messages about formaldehyde were more believable and made participants want to quit more than the general messages. Increasing message dose was significantly associated with discouraging participants from smoking and made participants want to quit (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that anti-smoking messages, containing chemical information, can successfully increase negative attitudes toward smoking cigarettes and potentially encourage quitting.
Predictors of Indwelling Pleural Catheter Removal and Infection

Background: Indwelling pleural catheters (IPCs) offer ambulatory management of symptomatic persistent pleural effusions, but their widespread use is somewhat hampered by the risk of pleural infection and the inconvenience of carrying a catheter for a prolonged period of time. Factors associated with these 2 limitations were analyzed in this study. Methods: Retrospective review of consecutive patients who had undergone IPC placement over a 5 ½-year period. Time to IPC removal was analyzed with the Fine and Gray competing risks survival model, with competing risk being death. A binary logistic regression method was used to evaluate factors influencing IPC-related pleural infections. Results: A total of 336 IPCs were placed in 308 patients, mostly because of malignant effusions (83%). IPC removal secondary to pleurodesis was achieved in 170 (51%) procedures at a median time of 52 days. Higher rates of IPC removal were associated with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) grade of 0 to 2 [subhazard ratio (SHR)=2.22], an expandable lung (SHR=1.93), and development of a multiseptated pleural space (SHR=1.37). IPC-related pleural infections occurred in 8% of the cases, and were more often seen in hepatic hydrothoraces [odds ratio (OR)=4.75] and pleural fluids with a C-reactive protein <15 mg/L before the IPC insertion (OR=4.42). Conclusion: IPC removal is more likely to occur in patients with good performance status whose lungs fully expand after drainage. Hepatic hydrothorax is the most significant predictor of IPC-related infections.
Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a prognostic marker for in-hospital mortality of patients with sepsis

Abstract Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported to serve as a prognostic marker in inflammatory diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of NLR at admission with in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis presenting to emergency department. This was a secondary analysis based on a single-center, retrospective, cohort study. Patients with sepsis admitted to an academic emergency department between January 2010 and January 2015 were enrolled. NLR of patients was analyzed from the hospital's electronic health record (EHR) system. A total of 174 adult patients, of which 80 (46.0%) died in hospital. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome was 28-day mortality. Contrary to previous studies, a larger NLR was found to have less odds of in-hospital mortality, as well as the presence of bacteremia. Patients who has severe/shock or had a history of chronic heart failure (CHF) had larger odds of death during hospital. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that low NLR was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR = –0.98; 95% CI –0.96 to –0.99; P = .022). However, no correlation was found between the NLR and 28-day hospital mortality in patients with sepsis (P = .988). As a predictor of in-hospital survival, the area under curve (AUC) of the NLR was 0.622 (95%CI 0.54–0.71; P = .006) and the cut-off value was 9.11 with 0.551 sensitivity and 0.707 specificity. NLR at admission was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality of sepsis patients.
Non-equilibrium critical dynamics of bursts in θ and δ rhythms as fundamental characteristic of sleep and wake micro-architecture

Origin and functions of intermittent transitions among sleep stages, including short awakenings and arousals, constitute a challenge to the current homeostatic framework for sleep regulation, focusing on factors modulating sleep over large time scales. Here we propose that the complex micro-architecture characterizing the sleep-wake cycle results from an underlying non-equilibrium critical dynamics, bridging collective behaviors across spatio-temporal scales. We investigate θ and δ wave dynamics in control rats and in rats with lesions of sleep-promoting neurons in the parafacial zone. We demonstrate that intermittent bursts in θ and δ rhythms exhibit a complex temporal organization, with long-range power-law correlations and a robust duality of power law (θ-bursts, active phase) and exponential-like (δ-bursts, quiescent phase) duration distributions, typical features of non-equilibrium systems self-organizing at criticality. Crucially, such temporal organization relates to anti-correlated coupling between θ- and δ-bursts, and is independent of the dominant physiologic state and lesions, a solid indication of a basic principle in sleep dynamics.
Long-range connections are more severely damaged and relevant for cognition in multiple sclerosis

The severity and effects of damage to short- and long-range structural connections in multiple sclerosis are unknown. Meijer et al. report that long-range connections are more severely damaged than short-range connections. Damage to long-range connections is more strongly associated with reduced structural network efficiency, abnormal functional connectivity, and impaired cognition.
Two-stream network for online quadrotor detection without dedicated annotations

Aerial vehicles detection, especially quadrotor detection, is important for cooperative unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). However, traditional object detection approaches require a well-annotated and large scale dataset which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Since the appearance of UAV is various, it is difficult to establish a dataset covering all kinds of UAVs. An intuitive solution for it is to train a network on an off-the-shelf dataset of a class which is under the same parent category as quadrotors. However, domain gap between these two classes hinders the performance of the trained network. To address this issue, a two-stream network is proposed. The appearance information (from a spatial stream) and the motion information (from a temporal stream) are incorporated in this network. A fusion module, cross proposal module, is proposed to fuse these two streams. To verify the performance of this two-stream network, a fully annotated dataset of quadrotors is established. Extensive experiments are conducted on it and the results show that our two-stream network performs better than traditional detection approaches in this task.
Evaluation of 3 Months of Once-Weekly Rifapentine and Isoniazid for Latent Tuberculosis Infection

Background: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 3 months of once-weekly rifapentine/isoniazid (3HP) for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) treatment given by directly observed therapy (DOT) or self-administered therapy (SAT) in patients ≥2 years old. 3HP has been associated with increased incidence of hepatic, gastrointestinal, flu-like, and cutaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs) compared with isoniazid monotherapy. Objective: This study evaluated 3HP completion rates and tolerability for LTBI treatment in a real-world setting. Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort with a nested case-control study, comparing patients experiencing ADRs with those who did not, evaluated patients ≥18 years old receiving 3HP by DOT or SAT for LTBI at Cleveland Clinic from October 2011 through July 2018. Information on baseline characteristics, 3HP administrations, and ADRs were collected. Results: Of 199 patients screened, 144 were included (111 DOT, 33 SAT). 3HP completion rates were high at 82.6% and similar between DOT and SAT groups. During treatment, 92/144 (63.9%) patients experienced any ADR. The most common ADR included flu-like symptoms (38.2%) and gastrointestinal (31.9%) and hepatic (2.1%) reactions. Despite high rate of overall ADRs, rates of significant ADRs (grade 2 or higher) were 4.2%. Overall, 9% of patients discontinued 3HP because of ADRs. After adjusting for other factors associated with ADRs at baseline, SAT was not associated with increased incidence of ADRs, but female sex was a significant predictor (odds ratio = 2.61 [95% CI, 1.23 to 5.56]). Conclusion and Relevance: This study observed high 3HP treatment completion rates, low incidence of significant ADRs, and low discontinuation rates resulting from ADRs.
Incidence, predictors and outcomes of stress hyperglycemia in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Stress hyperglycemia is a common finding during ST elevation myocardial infarction in diabetic patients and is associated with a worse outcome. However, there are limited data about stress hyperglycemia in non-diabetic patients and its outcome especially in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods: The study was conducted on 660 patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction who were managed with primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were classified into two groups according to the presence of stress hyperglycemia: group I (patients with stress hyperglycemia) and group II (patients without stress hyperglycemia). Patients were analysed for clinical outcome including mortality and the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events. Results: Incidence of stress hyperglycemia was 16.8%, multivariate regression analysis identified the independent predictors of stress hyperglycemia, that were family history of diabetes mellitus odds ratio 1.697 (95% confidence interval: 1.077–2.674, p = 0.023), body mass index >24 kg/m2 odds ratio 1.906 (95% confidence interval: 1.244–2.922, p = 0.003) and cardiogenic shock on admission odds ratio 2.517 (95% confidence interval: 1.162–5.451, p = 0.019). Mortality, cardiogenic shock, contrast induced nephropathy and no reflow phenomenon were significantly higher in stress hyperglycemia group with p value = 0.027, 0.001, 0.020 and 0.037, respectively. Conclusion: Stress hyperglycemia in non-diabetic patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with increased incidence of no reflow phenomenon, contrast induced nephropathy, cardiogenic shock and higher mortality.
Physical Activity in Peri-Urban Communities: Testing Intentional and Implicit Processes within an Ecological Framework.

BACKGROUND Given the substantive health inequalities in peri-urban communities and the potential for physical activity to promote health in these communities, identifying modifiable physical activity determinants in this population is important. This study explored effects of the peri-urban environment and psychological constructs on physical activity intentions and behavioural automaticity guided by an integrated theoretical framework. METHODS Peri-urban Australians (N = 271) completed self-report measures of environmental (i.e. physical/social environment, and neighbourhood selection), motivational (i.e. autonomous motivation), and social cognition (i.e. attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioural control [PBC]) constructs, past behaviour, intentions, and automaticity. RESULTS A well-fitting path analytic model revealed that: autonomous motivation predicted all social cognition constructs; subjective norms and PBC, but not attitudes; autonomous motivation predicted intentions and automaticity; and subjective norms and PBC mediated effects of autonomous motivation on intentions. Of the environmental constructs, only neighbourhood selection was related to intentions, mediated by PBC. CONCLUSIONS Autonomous motivation is an important correlate of physical activity intentions and automaticity, and subjective norms and PBC also related to intentions. Individuals perceiving a supportive environment were more likely to report positive PBC and intentions. Targeting change in autonomous motivation, and normative and control beliefs may help enhance physical activity intentions and automaticity in peri-urban communities.