Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher burden of supraventricular ectopic complexes early after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation is associated with increased risk of recurrent atrial fibrillation

Aims Early identification of patients who could benefit from early re-intervention after catheter ablation is highly warranted. Our aim was to investigate the association between post-procedural burden of supraventricular ectopic complexes (SVEC) and the risk of long-term atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. Methods and results A total of 125 patients undergoing catheter ablation for AF were included. Patients underwent 7-day Holter recordings immediately post-procedural. The number of SVEC in post-procedural Holter recordings was categorized into quartiles: 0-72, 73-212, 213-782 and ≥ 783 SVEC/day. Long-term AF recurrence was defined as a combined endpoint of AF ≥ 1 min during follow-up Holter recordings, cardioversion or hospitalization for AF after a 3-month blanking period and within 24 months of follow-up. High post-procedural supraventricular ectopy burden was associated with an increased risk of long-term AF recurrence in a dose-dependent manner (≥ 783 SVEC: HR 4.6 [1.9-11.5], P < 0.001) irrespective of AF recurrence during the blanking period or other risk factors. In patients with early AF recurrence < 90 days after catheter ablation ectopy burden was also highly predictive of long-term AF recurrence (SVEC ≥ 213: HR 3.0 [1.3-6.7], P = 0.007). Correspondingly, patients with early AF recurrence but low ectopy burden remained at low risk of long-term AF recurrence after the blanking period. Conclusion Our results indicate that post-procedural ectopy burden is highly associated with long-term AF recurrence and could be a potent risk marker for selection of patients for early re-ablation. Development of future ablation risk stratification and strategies should include focus on post-procedural ectopy burden.
Contributions to a fast and robust object recognition in images. (Contributions à une reconnaissance d'objet rapide et robuste en images)

In this thesis, we first present a contribution to overcome this problem of robustness for the recognition of object instances, then we straightly extend this contribution to the detection and localization of classes of objects. In a first step, we have developed a method inspired by graph matching to address the problem of fast recognition of instances of specific objects in noisy conditions. This method allows to easily combine any types of local features (eg contours, textures .) less affected by noise than keypoints, while bypassing the normalization problem and without penalizing too much the detection speed. Unlike other methods based on a global rigid transformation, our approach is robust to complex deformations such as those due to perspective or those non-rigid inherent to the model itself (e.g. a face, a flexible magazine). Our experiments on several datasets have showed the relevance of our approach. It is overall slightly less robust to occlusion than existing approaches, but it produces better performances in noisy conditions. In a second step, we have developed an approach for detecting classes of objects in the same spirit as the bag-of-visual-words model. For this we use our cascaded micro-classifiers to recognize visual words more distinctive than the classical words simply based on visual dictionaries. Training is divided into two parts: First, we generate cascades of micro-classifiers for recognizing local parts of the model pictures and then in a second step, we use a classifier to model the decision boundary between images of class and those of non-class. We show that the association of classical visual words (from keypoints patches) and our disctinctive words results in a significant improvement. The computation time is generally quite low, given the structure of the cascades that minimizes the detection time and the form of the classifier is extremely fast to evaluate.
Structure/processing relationships in vapor-liquid-solid nanowire epitaxy

The synthesis of Si and III-V nanowires using the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism and low-cost Si substrates was investigated. The VLS mechanism allows fabrication of heterostructures which are not readily attainable using traditional thin-film metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). In addition to these heterostructures, the VLS mechanism allows exploration of Si substrates as platforms for advanced III-V devices, a long-standing goal of the III-V research community, because of the potential for significant cost reductions. The approach to nanowire development first began by focusing on the binary Au/Si system. This system allowed us to understand critical parameters of our process including e-beam evaporation of Au thin-films, deposition of Au-colloid particles, pregrowth cleaning procedures and CVD growth conditions and times. Once controllable and repeatable Si nanowire epitaxy on Si substrates was established, we were able to focus on development of both III-V wires on Si substrates as well as Si substrates with topographic features and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. Growth abnormalities between Au-colloid nanoparticle catalysts and Au thin-film catalysts revealed a correlation between Au coverage on the substrate surface and Si nanowire growth rate. We found an increasing growth rate with increasing concentrations of Au catalyst particles on the wafer surface. Systematic experiments relating the nanowire growth rate to the proximity of nearest-neighbor Au-particles and Au-reservoirs were carried out and the results were found to be in good agreement with a SiH4 reaction model which associates decomposition to form SiH2 with higher nanowire growth rates. III-V nanowire growth on Si substrates was investigated as a possible route to the realization of high performance compound semiconductor devices on low cost substrates. For this study, GaP and InP were chosen as starting points for III-V nanowire integration with Si. Initial studies which focused on III-V wire epitaxy found that when Au-catalyst particles were treated with the group-III precursors before growth, there was an increase in the fraction of catalyst particles yielding wire growth and in the number of wires growing vertically from the substrate. Axial nanowire heterostructures of GaP(w)/InP(w)/GaP(w) were fabricated using MOCVD on Si (111) substrates. Growth temperature was found to be critical in the formation of GaP/InP axial heterostructures with minimal simultaneous lateral
Rubber toughening of glass fiber reinforced nylon‐6,6 with functionalized block copolymer SEBS‐g‐MA

The toughening of glass fiber reinforced nylon-6,6 (PA-6,6) by using the functionalized triblock copolymer styrene-(ethylene-co-butylene)-styrene, grafted with maleic anhydride (SEBS-g-MA) was examined. Blends containing 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, and 12.5 wt% copolymer were prepared by melt blending in a single-screw extruder. Emphasis was given to the study of mechanical properties in comparison with morphology and thermal properties of the aforementioned samples. Although the amount of SEBS-g-MA that was added in PA-6,6 was not enough to produce a super-tough material, a significant increase in the resistance to crack propagation and impact strength was observed in all blends. This behavior was proportional to the amount of SEBS-g-MA that was added for samples having up to 10%, rubber, while additional amounts seem to have no further effect. A small decrease in tensile strength was also observed. From FTIR spectroscopy and DSC analysis it was shown that the grafting extent of SEBS-g-MA to PA-6,6 was very low. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 21: 153–163, 2002; Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.10023
Nutlin‐3 treatment spares cisplatin‐induced inhibition of bone healing while maintaining osteosarcoma toxicity

The majority of Osteosarcoma (OS) patients are treated with a combination of chemotherapy, resection, and limb salvage protocols. These protocols include distraction osteogenesis (DO), which is characterized by direct new bone formation. Cisplatin (CDP) is extensively used for OS chemotherapy and recent studies, using a mouse DO model, have demonstrated that CDP has profound negative effects on bone repair. Recent oncological therapeutic strategies are based on the use of standard cytotoxic drugs plus an assortment of biologic agents. Here we demonstrate that the previously reported CDP‐associated inhibition of bone repair can be modulated by the administration of a small molecule p53 inducer (nutlin‐3). The effects of nutlin‐3 on CDP osteotoxicity were studied using both pre‐ and post‐operative treatment models. In both cases the addition of nutlin‐3, bracketing CDP exposure, demonstrated robust and significant bone sparing activity (p < 0.01–0.001). In addition the combination of nutlin‐3 and CDP induced equivalent OS tumor killing in a xenograft model. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the induction of p53 peri‐operatively protects bone healing from the toxic effects of CDP, while maintaining OS toxicity. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1716–1724, 2016.
Variational Bayesian PLDA for speaker diarization in the MGB challenge

This paper describes the ViVoLab speaker diarization system for the Multi-Genre Broadcast (MGB) Challenge at ASRU2015. The challenge data consisted of BBC TV programmes of different genres. Diarization followed a longitudinal setup, i.e., the speakers of the current episode had to be linked to the speakers in previous episodes of the same show. We propose a system based on the i-vector paradigm. After an initial segmentation step, we compute an i-vector per speech segment. Then, a generative model based on Bayesian PLDA clusters the speakers. In this model, the speaker labels are latent variables that we optimize by variational Bayes iterations. The number of speakers in each episode was decided by maximizing the variational lower bound. The system includes several phases of segment-merging and re-clustering. We re-compute i-vectors after each merging step, which reduces the i-vector uncertainty. This approach attained a DER around 30% in the development set.
Towards Qualitative Geovisual Analytics: A Case Study Involving Places, People, and Mediated Experience

This article seeks to address the gap between the quantitative, summative data that are typically engaged in geovisual analytics and the more personal, experiential ways of knowledge construction accentuated by qualitative GIS. By incorporating diverse forms of data within a high-dimensional conceptual framework, we set out a type of qualitative geovisual analytics. This approach is attentive to the epistemological limitations of singular data sources and highlights the multiple ways of exploring neighbourhoods. The article reports on a project that used an online survey, including collection of personal impressions of San Diego neighbourhoods based on street-level video. Three attribute spaces are conceptualized: survey respondents’ characteristics, attributes of San Diego neighbourhoods, and characteristics of the words used to describe these neighbourhoods. The self-organizing map (SOM) technique was used to reduce the dimensionality of these attribute spaces for visual exploration. This approach makes several important contributions, including a demonstration of “scaling up” the work that has been done in qualitative GIS. It productively integrates experiential data with a geovisual analytics approach and reaffirms the multiple meanings of visualization.
Co-scheduling of HVAC control, EV charging and battery usage for building energy efficiency

Building stock consumes 40% of primary energy consumption in the United States. Among various types of energy loads in buildings, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and EV (electric vehicle) charging are two of the most important ones and have distinct characteristics. HVAC system accounts for 50% of the building energy consumption and typically operates throughout the day, while EV charging is an emerging major energy load that is hard to predict and may cause spikes in energy demand. To maximize building energy efficiency and grid stability, it is important to address both types of energy loads in a holistic framework. Furthermore, on the supply side, the utilization of multiple energy sources such as grid electricity, solar, wind, and battery storage provides more opportunities for energy efficiency, and should be considered together with the scheduling of energy loads. In this paper, we present a novel model predictive control (MPC) based algorithm to co-schedule HVAC control, EV scheduling and battery usage for reducing the total building energy consumption and the peak energy demand, while maintaining the temperature within the comfort zone for building occupants and meeting the deadlines for EV charging. Experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach under a variety of demand, supply and environment constraints.
Epidermal growth factor receptor mutation subtypes and geographical distribution among Indian non-small cell lung cancer patients.

BACKGROUND The Medical Oncology Department at Tata Memorial Hospital, the single largest tertiary cancer care center in Asia, receives in-house registered and referral patient samples from all parts of the country. Our recent studies establish 23% EGFR mutation frequency among Indian population. Here, we extend our study and report further analysis of distribution of different types of EGFR mutations in 1018 non small cell lung cancer patient, and its co-relation with clinical parameters and geographical variations across the country. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study is a retrospective analysis on all the patients who were referred for EFGR testing as a routine service over a 1.5 year period. This was part of standard care. EGFR kinase domain mutations in exon 18-21 were probed by TaqMan probe-based assays in 1018 NSCLC patients. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION While EGFR exon 19 mutations, the most frequent EGFR mutation, were found be higher among non smokers females, we find surprisingly higher incidence of exon 21 mutations among EGFR mutation positive male smokers of Indian ethnicity. Furthermore, as Indian population is known to be composed of a gradient admixture of Ancestral North Indian (with genetic influence from Middle Easterners, Central Asians, and Europeans harboring variant EGFR mutation frequency) and Ancestral South Indians, as a paradox our study indicates comparable EGFR mutation frequency across different geographical locations within India CONCLUSION Geographically there is uniform distribution in the EGFR mutation frequency within India. Further more, while exon 19 mutations are predominant among non smokers, higher incidence of exon 21 mutations exists among EGFR mutation positive male smokers of Indian ethnicity.
Does a Change Over All Equal a Change in All? Testing for Polarized Alcohol Use Within and Across Socio-Economic Groups in Germany.

AIMS This study aimed at testing whether drinking volume and episodic heavy drinking (EHD) frequency in Germany are polarizing between consumption levels over time. Polarization is defined as a reduction in alcohol use among the majority of the population, while a subpopulation with a high intake level maintains or increases its drinking or its EHD frequency. The polarization hypothesis was tested across and within socio-economic subgroups. METHOD Analyses were based on seven cross-sectional waves of the Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse (ESA) conducted between 1995 and 2012 (n = 7833-9084). Overall polarization was estimated based on regression models with time by consumption level interactions; the three-way interaction with socio-economic status (SES) was consecutively introduced to test the stability of effects over socio-economic strata. Interactions were interpreted by graphical inspection. RESULTS For both alcohol use indicators, declines over time were largest in the highest consumption level. This was found within all SES groups, but was most pronounced at low and least pronounced at medium SES. CONCLUSION The results indicate no polarization but convergence between consumption levels. Socio-economic status groups differ in the magnitude of convergence which was lowest in medium SES. The overall decline was strongest for the highest consumption level of low SES.
A Review of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture RADAR (InSAR) Multi-Track Approaches for the Retrieval of Earth’s Surface Displacements

Synthetic Aperture RADAR Interferometry (InSAR) provides a unique tool for the quantitative measurement of the Earth’s surface deformations induced by a variety of natural (such as volcanic eruptions, landslides and earthquakes) and anthropogenic (e.g., ground-water extraction in highly-urbanized areas, deterioration of buildings and public facilities) processes. In this framework, use of InSAR technology makes it possible the long-term monitoring of surface deformations and the analysis of relevant geodynamic phenomena. This review paper provides readers with a general overview of the InSAR principles and the recent development of the advanced multi-track InSAR combination methodologies, which allow to discriminate the 3-D components of deformation processes and to follow their temporal evolution. The increasing availability of SAR data collected by complementary illumination angles and from different RADAR instruments, which operate in various bands of the microwave spectrum (X-, L- and C-band), makes the use of multi-track/multi-satellite InSAR techniques very promising for the characterization of deformation patterns. A few case studies will be presented, with a particular focus on the recently proposed multi-track InSAR method known as the Minimum Acceleration (MinA) combination approach. The presented results evidence the validity and the relevance of the investigated InSAR approaches for geospatial analyses.
Fault Current Calculation by The Least Squares Method

This paper contains the analysis of the increase of fault current due to the installation of DGs or merchant plants. An index called the Average Change of Fault Current, ACF, is proposed. The ACF can be applied to indicate the contribution of the increase of fault current and to allocate the responsibility of system upgrades among the owners of DGs. The least squares method for calculating the ACF is discussed. The con- fidence interval of the coefficients and mean response of ACF is discussed.
Identification of Soybean Host Plant Resistance to Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs in Maturity Group III Plant Introductions

Abstract Halyomorpha halys (Stål; Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), is a polyphagous nonnative insect first found in the United States in 1996. As of 2017, BMSB has been detected in 43 states and is a severe agricultural pest in mid-Atlantic states. On soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr (Fabales: Fabaceae), damage from BMSB infestation ranges from puncture marks with seed discoloration and deformities to seed and pod abortion. Host plant resistance has been used for managing pest populations and mitigating soybean yield losses caused by neotropical stink bugs (Eushistus heros, Nezara viridula, and Piezodorus guildinii) in Brazil and on the U.S. Gulf Coast. We evaluated maturity group III plant introductions (PIs) for resistance to BMSB damage. In 2014, field cage choice tests of 106 PIs revealed a range of both BMSB damage incidence and severity. In field choice tests, PIs 085665 and 097139 showed the lowest incidence of BMSB damage and seed weight loss due to BMSB, while PIs 243532, 243540, and 567252 had the highest. In whole plant no-choice tests, PIs 085665 and 097139 also had high levels of resistance. However, PI 085665 had a higher incidence of damage but lower seed weight loss than PI 097139, which may suggest bimodal resistance. Moreover, PIs 085665 and 097139 are from Japan and North Korea, respectively, two geographically isolated countries where BMSB is native.Thus, further characterization of host plant resistance to BMSB in each of these lines may elucidate distinct mechanisms that could be synergistic if stacked in breeding lines.
Robust Stability Analysis and State Feedback Synthesis for Discrete-Time Systems Characterized by Random Polytopes

This paper deals with discrete-time linear systems whose state transition is determined by a sequence of random matrices having uncertain distributions. In representing random matrices with uncertain distributions, we use random polytopes whose vertices are random matrices with given fixed distributions. For such systems characterized by random polytopes, we first tackle a problem of analyzing robust second-moment exponential stability. In particular, we show a linear-matrix-inequality-based robust stability condition that can be solved through sample-based evaluation of the associated expectations. The confidence level for such sample-based analysis is ensured by the central limit theorem. Then, we extend the results about analysis toward robust stabilization state feedback synthesis in such a way that the confidence level arguments can be facilitated. We also provide numerical examples illustrating our analysis and synthesis framework.
Assessing quality of life of older people with dementia: a comparison of quantitative self-report and proxy accounts.

AIMS This article reports on a study of quality of life of older people with dementia, as assessed by the person with dementia, family carer and care staff. BACKGROUND People with dementia can give meaningful assessments of their quality of life, but these often differ from proxy ratings. In understanding this discrepancy, the influence of age, extent of cognitive impairment and activity limitation has been investigated. A lack of conclusive associations between quality of life ratings and these variables indicates a need for further research. METHODS Fifty-eight triads comprising the person with dementia, family carer and member of care staff from four long-term care facilities were surveyed on the quality of life-Alzheimer's Disease questionnaire between August and December 2007. RESULTS There was an important difference in the quality of life-Alzheimer's disease questionnaire total mean scores between groups, with the person with dementia providing the highest ratings. Level of impairment in activities of daily living had an important effect on quality of life ratings, with proxies, particularly care staff, providing lower ratings when there was greater activity limitation. This was not replicated for assessments made by the person with dementia. Age or level of cognitive impairment did not influence any ratings. CONCLUSION People with dementia can give assessments of their quality of life. However, discrepancy in ratings, with greater activity limitation affecting proxy ratings but not those made by the person with dementia, indicates the importance of including both self-report and proxy measures in research and care planning.
Risk-Aware Leakage Resiliency for Wireless Sensor Network Nodes

Leakage resiliency is a kind of light-weight ways of thwarting side-channel attack (SCA) threat. But the frequent updating of key still brings considerable energy overhead for wireless sensor network (WSN) devices. It is a way of saving energy consumption to update the secret key only when the risk of revealing key accumulates to a dangerous threshold, instead of updating at every run. This paper proposes a risk-aware key updating method for leakage resilient cryptography used by WSN node. It employs an on-the-fly risk monitor to evaluate the real time success rate of potential attacks. A low cost implementation of the monitor hardware is presented in addition. A risk-aware key updating leakage resilient Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) engine was implemented and achieves typically 91.7% decrease in terms of energy with only around 8.5% chance of being cracked and 11.6% additional area.