Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are nonfunctioning adrenal incidentalomas really nonfunctioning? A retrospective single-center study.

OBJECTIVE In patients with adrenal incidentaloma (AI), cortisol levels <1.8 μg/dL after a dexamethasone suppression test (DST) are considered nonfunctioning in terms of autonomic cortisol hypersecretion (ACH). We aimed to investigate the frequency of hypertension (HT) in patients with nonfunctioning AI. PATIENTS AND METHODS Individuals with AI who were admitted to the endocrinology clinic between September 2020 and May 2023 were included as the patient group, and age- and gender-matched individuals admitted with thyroid nodules between the same dates were included as the control group. RESULTS The participants included 123 AI patients who fulfilled the study criteria and 114 age- and sex-matched patients with thyroid nodules (age: 53.0±10.9 years and 52.9±7.4 years, respectively, p=0.98; female/male distribution: 90/33 and 91/23, respectively, p=0.28). The frequency of HT was higher in the AI group than in the control group (50.4% and 31.6%, respectively, p=0.004). The frequency of HT was significantly lower in patients with a DST result <0.87 μg/dL compared to those with a DST result ≥0.87 μg/dL (42.6% and 66.1%, respectively, p=0.009). The factors affecting HT were analyzed using binary logistic regression analysis; it was found that age [β=0.068, odds ratio (OR); 1.07 (95% confidence interval (CI); 1.02-1.12), p=0.004] and DST [β=1.18, OR; 3.24 (95% CI); 1.02-10.34, p=0.047] were independent factors. CONCLUSIONS The frequency of HT increases in patients with nonfunctioning AI. The reason for this increase may possibly be the presence of ACH, which is not detected by the cut-off values we currently use to exclude ACH.
Exploring factors influencing the attitude of ski tourers towards the ski touring management measures of the Gesäuse National Park

This study investigated factors influencing the attitude of on-site ski tourers towards the ski touring management measures recently implemented by the Gesause National Park for two ski tours in the Johnsbach valley in order to protect capercaillie and black grouse. Most of the respondents (n = 550) were long-standing regular day visitors frequently visiting the Johnsbach valley for ski touring. The majority of them were not aware of ski touring management measures. Two thirds of those who knew about it saw it as a useful concept. The regression analysis identified attitudes towards environmental impacts of ski touring, motives for ski touring, area dependence, perceived constraints to the individual’s recreational activities and past experience as factors explaining the attitude towards the concept. From our findings we derived implications for the management of protected areas.
Science Arts & Métiers (SAM)

Résumé–Les variations de la vitesse des courants marins induisent généralement de grandes fluctuations de la puissance produite par une hydrolienne. La houle est considérée comme principale source de variation à très court terme des vitesses de courants. Une stratégie MPPT conventionnelle nécessiterait dans ces conditions d’accélérer ou de décélérer fréquemment la turbine entraînant ainsi de fortes fluctuations de la puissance générée. Cet article se propose alors d’étudier le lissage de la puissance produite par une hydrolienne équipée d’une génératrice synchrone à aimants permanents à laquelle sera associé un banc de supercondensateurs. Le système sera commandé au moyen de stratégies de contrôle appropriées. Pour ce faire un algorithme de MPPT modifié associé à une stratégie de filtrage est proposé. Il utilisera plus particulièrement l’inertie du système pour atténuer les fluctuations de la puissance. Le système de stockage supercapacitif est ensuite utilisé pour lisser les fluctuations résiduelles. Des simulations sur une hydrolienne à entraînement direct de 1.5 MW connectée au réseau montrent que l’association de la stratégie de contrôle proposée à un stockage supercapacitif permet d’injecter une puissance relativement lisse au réseau en présence de perturbations liées à la houle.
Looking for Carroll particles in two time spacetime

We make an attempt to describe Carroll particles with a non-vanishing value of energy (i.e. the Carroll particles which always stay in rest) in the framework of two time physics, developed in the series of papers by I. Bars and his co-authors. In the spacetime with one additional time dimension and one additional space dimension one can localize the symmetry which exists between generalized coordinate and their conjugate momenta. Such a localization implies the introduction of the gauge fields, which in turn implies the appearance of some first-class constraints. Choosing different gauge-fixing conditions and solving the constraints one obtain different time parameters, Hamiltonians, and generally, physical systems in the standard one time spacetime. In this way such systems as non-relativistic particle, relativistic particles, hydrogen atoms and harmonic oscillators were described as dual systems in the framework of the two time physics. Here, we find a set of gauge fixing conditions which provides as with such a parametrization of the phase space variables in the two time world which gives the description of Carroll particle in the one time world. Besides, we construct the quantum theory of such a particle using an unexpected correspondence between our parametrization and that obtained by Bars for the hydrogen atom in 1999.
L2T-DLN: Learning to Teach with Dynamic Loss Network

With the concept of teaching being introduced to the machine learning community, a teacher model start using dynamic loss functions to teach the training of a student model. The dynamic intends to set adaptive loss functions to different phases of student model learning. In existing works, the teacher model 1) merely determines the loss function based on the present states of the student model, i.e., disregards the experience of the teacher; 2) only utilizes the states of the student model, e.g., training iteration number and loss/accuracy from training/validation sets, while ignoring the states of the loss function. In this paper, we first formulate the loss adjustment as a temporal task by designing a teacher model with memory units, and, therefore, enables the student learning to be guided by the experience of the teacher model. Then, with a dynamic loss network, we can additionally use the states of the loss to assist the teacher learning in enhancing the interactions between the teacher and the student model. Extensive experiments demonstrate our approach can enhance student learning and improve the performance of various deep models on real-world tasks, including classification, objective detection, and semantic segmentation scenarios.
Fast and Delay-Robust Multimodal Journey Planning

We study journey planning in multimodal networks consisting of public transit plus an unrestricted transfer mode (e.g., walking or cycling). In order to provide good results in practice, algorithms must account for vehicle delays. Delay-responsive algorithms receive a continuous stream of delay updates and must return optimal journeys in the currently known delay scenario. Updates are incorporated in an update phase, which must be fast (e.g., a few seconds). The fastest known approach for multimodal journey planning is ULTRA, which precomputes shortcuts representing transfers between vehicles. This allows query algorithms to find Pareto-optimal journeys regarding arrival time and the number of public transit trips without any performance loss compared to pure public transit networks. However, the precomputation phase does not account for delays and is too slow to rerun during the update phase. We present Delay-ULTRA, a delay-responsive variant of ULTRA. Since accounting for all theoretically possible delays would yield an impractically large set of shortcuts, our approach precomputes shortcuts that are provably sufficient as long as delays do not exceed a configurable limit (e.g., 5 minutes). To handle delays above the limit (which are less frequent in practice), we propose a heuristic search for missing shortcuts that is fast enough to be run during the update phase. Our experimental evaluation on real-world data shows that Delay-ULTRA fails to find less than 0.02% of optimal journeys on metropolitan and mid-sized country networks, and 0.16% on the much larger Germany network. Considering that the available delay information in realistic applications is never perfectly accurate, these error rates are negligible. Query speed is at most twice as slow as ULTRA without delay information, and up to 8 times faster than the fastest exact algorithm, which does not require a preprocessing phase.
A Differential Relative GPS Tracking Solution

In many mobile wireless applications such as the automated driving of cars, formation ying of unmanned air vehicles, and source localization or target tracking with wireless sensor networks, it is more important to know the precise relative locations of nodes than their absolute coordinates. GPS, the most ubiquitous localization system available, generally provides only absolute coordinates. Furthermore, low-cost receivers can exhibit tens of meters of error or worse in challenging RF environments. This video demonstration presents an approach that uses GPS to derive relative location information for multiple receivers [1]. Cooperating nodes in a network share their raw satellite measurements and use this data to track the relative motions of neighboring nodes as opposed to computing their own absolute coordinates. This is achieved via creation of a new error model that incorporates GPS localization errors specic to the multiple-receiver case, development of a new, highly accurate observation model that allows for the change in range between a single satellite and two receivers to be mapped through time, and the synthesis of these two models into a novel 3D pairwise tracking algorithm that uses the local GPS node as its own reference and requires only an approximate estimate of its own absolute position to achieve centimeter-scale relative tracking precision. The system just described was implemented on a network of Android smartphones equipped with a Bluetooth-enabled, custom GPS node to provide raw measurement data. Several experiments were carried out to test our proof of concept in various GPS environments and under dierent types of dynamic conditions. Our evaluation shows that centimeterscale tracking accuracy at an update rate of 1 Hz is possible under various conditions with the presented technique. This is more than an order of magnitude more accurate than simply taking the dierence of reported absolute node coordinates or other simplistic approaches due to uncorrelated measurement errors. The demo shown in this video represents one of the highdynamic test cases in which we placed a stationary GPS receiver on a tripod in the middle of a parking lot and three additional nodes on top of an automobile. We proceeded to
Searching for Associations between Short Gamma-Ray Bursts and Fast Radio Bursts

The physical origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs) is still unclear. However, young magnetars associated with short-duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) have been thought to be possible central engines for some FRBs. In this paper, we perform a systematic search for SGRBs that are associated with FRBs in a sample including 623 FRBs (601 one-off bursts and 22 repeaters) and 168 SGRBs with precise localizations. We find that FRB 190309A is spatially associated with GRB 060502B, with a chance probability of 0.05 when temporal and redshift information is taken into account. Considering the high chance probability (the statistical significance is <3σ), we examine other observational properties such as the host galaxy, the dispersion measure, and the energy budget of the central engine to check the possibility of their association. Although the available observational information is insufficient to determine whether they are physically associated, it does not rule out such a possibility. As the only pair of FRB and GRB that are spatially associated, it remains an interesting case worthy of further attention.
Women Wearing Lipstick: Measuring the Bias Between an Object and Its Related Gender

In this paper, we investigate the impact of objects on gender bias in image captioning systems. Our results show that only gender-specific objects have a strong gender bias (e.g., women-lipstick). In addition, we propose a visual semantic-based gender score that measures the degree of bias and can be used as a plug-in for any image captioning system. Our experiments demonstrate the utility of the gender score, since we observe that our score can measure the bias relation between a caption and its related gender; therefore, our score can be used as an additional metric to the existing Object Gender Co-Occ approach. Code and data are publicly available at \url{https://github.com/ahmedssabir/GenderScore}.
Large Language Models as Evolutionary Optimizers

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have achieved remarkable success in tackling complex combinatorial optimization problems. However, EAs often demand carefully-designed operators with the aid of domain expertise to achieve satisfactory performance. In this work, we present the first study on large language models (LLMs) as evolutionary combinatorial optimizers. The main advantage is that it requires minimal domain knowledge and human efforts, as well as no additional training of the model. This approach is referred to as LLM-driven EA (LMEA). Specifically, in each generation of the evolutionary search, LMEA instructs the LLM to select parent solutions from current population, and perform crossover and mutation to generate offspring solutions. Then, LMEA evaluates these new solutions and include them into the population for the next generation. LMEA is equipped with a self-adaptation mechanism that controls the temperature of the LLM. This enables it to balance between exploration and exploitation and prevents the search from getting stuck in local optima. We investigate the power of LMEA on the classical traveling salesman problems (TSPs) widely used in combinatorial optimization research. Notably, the results show that LMEA performs competitively to traditional heuristics in finding high-quality solutions on TSP instances with up to 20 nodes. Additionally, we also study the effectiveness of LLM-driven crossover/mutation and the self-adaptation mechanism in evolutionary search. In summary, our results reveal the great potentials of LLMs as evolutionary optimizers for solving combinatorial problems. We hope our research shall inspire future explorations on LLM-driven EAs for complex optimization challenges.
SignAvatars: A Large-scale 3D Sign Language Holistic Motion Dataset and Benchmark

In this paper, we present SignAvatars, the first large-scale multi-prompt 3D sign language (SL) motion dataset designed to bridge the communication gap for hearing-impaired individuals. While there has been an exponentially growing number of research regarding digital communication, the majority of existing communication technologies primarily cater to spoken or written languages, instead of SL, the essential communication method for hearing-impaired communities. Existing SL datasets, dictionaries, and sign language production (SLP) methods are typically limited to 2D as the annotating 3D models and avatars for SL is usually an entirely manual and labor-intensive process conducted by SL experts, often resulting in unnatural avatars. In response to these challenges, we compile and curate the SignAvatars dataset, which comprises 70,000 videos from 153 signers, totaling 8.34 million frames, covering both isolated signs and continuous, co-articulated signs, with multiple prompts including HamNoSys, spoken language, and words. To yield 3D holistic annotations, including meshes and biomechanically-valid poses of body, hands, and face, as well as 2D and 3D keypoints, we introduce an automated annotation pipeline operating on our large corpus of SL videos. SignAvatars facilitates various tasks such as 3D sign language recognition (SLR) and the novel 3D SL production (SLP) from diverse inputs like text scripts, individual words, and HamNoSys notation. Hence, to evaluate the potential of SignAvatars, we further propose a unified benchmark of 3D SL holistic motion production. We believe that this work is a significant step forward towards bringing the digital world to the hearing-impaired communities. Our project page is at https://signavatars.github. io/
Challenges and Expectations of First Year International Medical Students in Egypt

Background: International students encounter both good and bad stressors. Egypt's international student population is growing. Objectives: The purpose of this research is to identify the obstacles and expectations of a group of international students studying in Egypt. Methods: In 2020, three focus groups were held in English with twenty first-year international medical students. Each 60-minute talk was recorded and examined. Some of them communicated via e-mail to share their feelings about the changes caused by the pandemic. Results : International medical students were motivated to study in Egypt because of the good school system, steady study conditions, and availability of scholarships. They experienced difficulties such as difficult medical studies, language barriers, and cultural differences. Mentorship programs, Arabic language classes, and intercultural activities might be beneficial. Conclusions : Although international students are motivated by their educational experience in Egypt, they face a number of problems. During a catastrophe such as the global pandemic, extra social support is essential.
Long-term resilience decline in plant ecosystems across the Danian Dan-C2 hyperthermal event, Boltysh crater, Ukraine

Mass-balance calculations indicate that a massive amount of δ13C-depleted carbon was released into the early Danian atmosphere in volumes comparable with the younger Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). This Danian hyperthermal event (the Dan-C2) has been documented from the fill of the Boltysh meteorite crater, Ukraine. Palynofloras recovered from the Boltysh crater fill show a trend from mesic forest to savannah ecosystem dominance on a millennial scale across the hyperthermal inception with no abrupt compositional shift. This longer-term trend is overprinted by moisture availability oscillations reflecting orbital forcing. Forcing is not directly tracked by the oscillations, which are composed of mesic forest and savannah palynofloras separated by rapid critical transitions. The absence of an ecological collapse at the Dan-C2 indicates that plant ecosystems experienced dominant forcing from orbital cyclicity, rather than a stochastic temperature rise.
RELATIONSHIP OF THE ORDER APIALES TO SUBCLASS ASTERIDAE : A RE-EVALUATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS BASED ON INSIGHTS FROM MOLECULAR DATA

Phylogenetic relationships involving the angiosperm order Apiales ( Apiaceae and Araliaceae ) are troublesome at nearly every taxonomic level and have eluded several generations of botanists. Because of di ﬃ culties in interpreting and polarizing morphological character states at deeper phylogenetic levels, most studies in Apiales have focused on relationships between the two families and among / within the apialean genera. In the present study, however, recent contributions from molecular analyses are reviewed and combined using a ‘supertree’ approach to test traditional hypotheses of relationships involving Apiales , and to re-evaluate assumptions of character-state evolution in the order. Results from this study conﬁrm that Apiales form a monophyletic group with Pittosporaceae (along with Griselinia G. Forst., Melanophylla Baker, Torricellia DC. and Aralidium Miq.), and should be transferred out of subclass Rosidae (away from both Cornales and Sapindales ) to the Asteridae (in a position close to Asterales and Dipsacales ). These ﬁndings are also supported by several lines of morphological, anatomical, and phytochemical evidence, and provide a more satisfactory framework for interpreting relationships and character-state evolution within the major clades of Apiales .
Operationalizing ecological robustness and resilience for ecosystem based management

The goal of an ecosystem based approach to management is to preserve robust ecosystems that can cope with the environmental pressure imposed by human activities. Vulnerable ecosystems exposed to strong environmental perturbation are at high risk of large impact. Ecosystem based management can mitigate impact by dealing with ecosystem properties that influence vulnerability. The challenge is to identify relevant ecosystem properties that can be effectively integrated in assessment and decision making so as to operationalize ecological robustness and resilience. Here we present the approach used in the project BarEcoRe to quantify, evaluate and integrate an ensemble of structural properties affecting ecosystem adaptability and sensitivity to environmental change. The ecosystem properties, which include functional diversity and redundancy, and food web compartmentalization, were quantified based on data from the Norwegian and Russian Barents Sea ecosystem surveys. The chosen structural ecosystem properties can be combined with early warning signals estimated from time series to monitor robustness and resilience of managed ecosystems and to guide decision making.
Optical absorption spectra of waters from the Orinoco River outflow : terrestrial input of colored organic matter to the Caribbean

An extensive series of optical absorption spectra were recorded for waters in the eastern Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Paria, and the Orinoco River Estuary during the high-flow period of the Orinoco River in the Fall of 1988. Evidence for high levels of dissolved, colored organic matter (COM) was found throughout the eastern Caribbean, with these levels increasing substantially at stations nearer the Gulf of Paria and the Orinoco River. The dependence of the absorption at 300 nm (a300) on salinity exhibited conservative mixing behavior for transects through the Gulf of Paria. In contrast, transects through the Orinoco Estuary revealed that a300 remained approximately constant or slightly increased with increasing salinity up to 27‰, after which it decreased linearly with increasing salinity. This nonconservative behavior was not produced by COM release from suspended particulate matter at higher salinity, nor did it appear to originate from the sediment. Below 30‰, the slopes of the log-linearized absorption spectra were independent of salinity (0.0140 nm−1). At higher salinities, the slopes apparently increased, suggesting that the COM is modified. Based on specific absorption coefficients measured for COM isolated from this area, COM input by the Orinoco River is estimated to be ∼ 2.5 × 1012 g C/yr, which represents about 1% of the total global transport of dissolved organic carbon to the ocean. This input is likely to influence substantially the carbon cycle, photochemical properties, and optical characteristics of the waters in this region.
SP ATIALLY EXPLICIT SIMULATIONS INDICATE THAT ROADKILL HAS CLEAR CONSEQUENCES FOR GENETIC DIVERSITY

We used individual-based, spatially explicit simulations to explore the effects of roadkill and road avoidance on wildlife genetic diversity. Genetic evidence is mounting that roads have detectible effects on the genetics of many types of wildlife populations (Balkenhol & Waits, 2009). However, most of what we know of road effects concerns genetic fragmentation without regard to its mechanism(s), which can be road avoidance, roadkill, or both.