Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Attention and search conspicuity as a function of their visual context

Background: Over the years, PTWs’ number of accidents have increased dramatically and have accounted for a high percentage of the total traffic fatalities. The majority of those accidents occur in daylight, clear weather, and at light to moderate traffic conditions. The current study included two experiments. The first experiment evaluated the influence of PTW attention conspicuity on the ability of un-alerted viewers to detect it, whereas the second experiment evaluated the PTWs search conspicuity to alerted viewers. The independent variables in both experiments included driving scenarios (urban and inter-urban), PTW rider’s outfit (black, white, and reflective) and PTW distance from the viewer. Method: 66 students participated in experiment 1. Every participant was presented with a series of pictures and was asked to report all the vehicle types present in each picture. Experiment 2 included 64 participants and incorporated the same pictures as experiment 1. However, in this experiment the participants were instructed to search the pictures for a PTW and to report its presence or absence as soon as they reach a decision. Results: In experiment 1 the detection of a PTW depended on the interaction between its distance from the viewer, the driving scenario and PTW rider’s outfit. For an un-alerted viewer when the PTW was distant the different outfit conditions affected its’ attention conspicuity. In urban roads, where the background surrounding the PTW was more complex and multi-colored, the reflective and white outfits increased its attention conspicuity compared to the black outfit condition. In contrast, in inter-urban roads, where the background was solely a bright sky, the black outfit provided an advantage for the PTW detectability. In experiment 2, the average PTW detection rate of the alerted viewers was very high and the average reaction time to identify the presence of a PTW was the shortest in the inter-urban environment. Similar to the results of experiment 1, in urban environments the reflective and white clothing provided an advantage to the detection of the PTW, while in the inter-urban environment the black outfit presented an advantage. Comparing the results of the two experiments revealed that at the farthest distance, the increased awareness in the search conspicuity detection rates were three times higher than in the attention conspicuity. Conclusions: The conspicuity of a PTW can be increased by using an appropriate rider’s outfit that distinguishes him/her from the background scenery. Thus, PTW riders can actively increase their conspicuity by taking into account the driving route (crowded urban/inter urban), eventually increasing the probability of being detected by the other road users. In addition, increasing the alertness and expectancy of f PTW drivers to the presence o
Redesigning Mass Transit Systems to better integrate with Mobility-onDemand Systems or Redesigning Mass Transit Systems to better integrate with Mobility-on-Demand Systems via The Batched Set Cover Problem

We introduce the batched set cover problem , which is a generalization of the online set cover problem. In this problem, the elements of the ground set that need to be covered arrive in batches. Our main technical contribution is a tight Ω(𝐻𝐻 𝑚𝑚−2 𝑧𝑧 +1 ) lower bound on the competitive ratio of any fractional batched algorithm given an adversary that is required to produce batches of VC-dimension at least 𝑧𝑧 , for some 𝑧𝑧 ∈ ℕ 0 . This restriction on the adversary is motivated by the fact that, in some real world applications, decisions are made after collecting batches of data of non-trivial VC-dimension. In particular, ridesharing systems rely on the batch assignment of trip requests to vehicles, and some related problems such as that of optimal congregation points for passenger pickups and dropoffs can be modeled as a batched set cover problem with VC-dimension greater than or equal to two. Furthermore, we note that while any online algorithm may be used to solve the batched set cover problem by artificially sequencing the elements in a batch, this procedure may neglect the rich information encoded in the complex interactions between the elements of a batch and the sets that contain them. Therefore, we propose a minor modification to an online algorithm found in [8] to obtain an algorithm that attempts to exploit such information. Unfortunately, we are unable to improve its analysis in a way that reflects this intuition. However, we present computational experiments that provide empirical evidence of a constant factor improvement in the competitive ratio. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to use the VC-dimension in the context of online (batched) covering problems.
Towards developing a multiple modality fusion technique for automatic detection of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a major eye disease which when untreated, can gradually lead to irreversible loss in vision. The underlying causes are a loss of retinal nerve fibres (resulting in a thinning of the layer and enlargement of the optic cup) and peripapillary atrophy. Since these occur without any sign of symptoms in the initial stages, it is difficult to diagnose the disease in the early stages. Hence, the development of Computer-aided diagnostics (CAD) systems for early detection and treatment of the disease has attracted the attention of many medical experts and researchers alike. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Fundus photography are two widely used retinal imaging techniques for obtaining the structural information of the eye which helps to analyze and detect the diseases. Existing automated systems rely largely on fundus images for assessment of glaucoma due to their fast acquisition and cost. OCT images provide vital and unambiguous information for understanding the changes occurring in the retina, specifically related to the retinal nerve fiber layer and the optic nerve head which are essential for disease assessment. However, the high cost of OCT is a deterrent for deployment in screening at large scale. Hence, the focus of this thesis is to investigate the potential of integrating the two retinal imaging techniques which provide complementary information of the eye for developing automatic glaucoma screening system. Firstly, we propose a deep learning approach directly operating on 3D OCT volumes for glaucoma assessment which showed promising results, thus demonstrating the prominence of the highly discriminative features learnt from OCT for automated glaucoma detection. Next, we present a novel CAD solution wherein both OCT and fundus modality images are leveraged to learn a model that can perform a mapping of fundus to the OCT feature space. We show how this model can be subsequently used to detect glaucoma given an image from only one modality (fundus), thus enabling the automated screening operation to be executed on a large scale. The results show that fundus to OCT feature space mapping is an attractive option for glaucoma detection.
OP-NDTJ190056 760..773

Kidney transplantation (KT) is the optimal therapy for endstage kidney disease (ESKD), resulting in significant improvement in survival as well as quality of life when compared with maintenance dialysis. The burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in ESKD is reduced after KT; however, it still remains the leading cause of premature patient and allograft loss, as well as a source of significant morbidity and healthcare costs. All major phenotypes of CVD including coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, arrhythmias and pulmonary hypertension are represented in the KT recipient population. Pre-existing risk factors for CVD in the KT recipient are amplified by superimposed cardio-metabolic derangements after transplantation such as the metabolic effects of immunosuppressive regimens, obesity, posttransplant diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and allograft dysfunction. This review summarizes the major risk factors for CVD in KT recipients and describes the individual phenotypes of overt CVD in this population. It highlights gaps in the existing literature to emphasize the need for future studies in those areas and optimize cardiovascular outcomes after KT. Finally, it outlines the need for a joint ‘cardio-nephrology’ clinical care model to ensure continuity, multidisciplinary collaboration and implementation of best clinical practices toward reducing CVD after KT.
Fréchet differentiability of Lipschitz maps and porous sets in Banach spaces

This paper is an outline of the main results obtained by the authors on this subject in recent years. The proofs of many of those results are very technical and involved. The complete proofs will be presented in a research monograph the authors are preparing at present. The content of this article is closely related to talks presented by the first named author at conferences: Banach spaces and their applications in analysis, Oxford, Ohio, 2006 and New trends in Banach space theory, Caceres, Spain, 2006.
Generation of polyclonal rabbit antibodies directed against the idiotype of certolizumab Polyclonal antibodies to certolizumab

40 consecutive RA patients starting certolizumab treatment were enrolled in a prospective observational cohort study between 2011 and 2016 [Dutch Trial Register NTR (Nederlands Trial Register) Trial NL2824 no. 2965]. Patients were treated with 400 mg certolizumab subcutaneously at week 0, 2 and 4 (loading dose), followed by 200 mg once every two weeks. Serum samples were drawn at baseline (week 0) and 4, 16, 28 and 52 weeks after initiation of certolizumab treatment. To investigate the TNF neutralising capacity of adalimumab, a set of serum samples was selected from consecutive adalimumab-treated RA patients from a prospective observational cohort study, as previously described by Bartelds et al. (2011) (1). These patients were enrolled between 2004 and 2007 and treated with a standard-dose adalimumab of 40 mg subcutaneously every other week. Serum samples were drawn at baseline and 4, 16, 28, 40, 52, 78 and 104 weeks after initiation of adalimumab treatment. Both studies were approved by the medical ethics committee of the Slotervaart Hospital and Reade Medical Research Ethics Committee, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (CCMO NL35209.048.11). All patients gave written informed consent. At baseline, all patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology 1987 revised criteria for RA (2) and had active disease indicated with the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) >3.2.
Making Sense of Information Scatter on the Web

Recent studies suggest that users often retrieve incomplete healthcare information because of the complex and skewed distribution of facts across relevant webpages. To understand the regularities underlying such skewed distributions, this paper presents the results of three analyses. (1) A distribution analysis describes how facts related to healthcare topics are scattered across high-quality healthcare pages. (2) A cluster analysis of the same data suggests that the skewed distribution can be explained by the existence of three page profiles that vary in information density, each of which play an important role in providing comprehensive information of a topic. (3) A network analysis reveals regularities of how particular facts co-occur in pages. The regularities underlying scatter revealed by the three analyses provide implications for the design of search systems and websites to help users find and make sense of scattered information, and implications for a model to explain the process through which information scatter occurs.
Binding of Targeted Semiconducting Photothermal Polymer Nanoparticles for Intraperitoneal Detection and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Nanoparticles offer many promising advantages for improving current surgical regimens through their ability to detect and treat disseminated colorectal cancer (CRC). Hybrid Donor-Acceptor Polymer Particles (HDAPPs) have recently been shown to fluorescently detect and thermally ablate tumors in a murine model. Here, HDAPPS were functionalized with hyaluronic acid (HA) to improve their binding specificity to CT26 mouse CRC cells using HA to target the cancer stem cell marker CD44. In this work, we compared the binding of HA functionalized HDAPPs (HA-HDAPPs) in in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo environments. The HA-HDAPPs bound to CT26 cells 2-fold more in vitro and 2.3-fold higher than un-functionalized HDAPPs ex vivo. Compared to intraoperative abdominal perfusion, intraperitoneal injection prior to laser stimulation for nanoparticle heat generation provides a superior modality of HA-HDAPPs delivery for CRC tumor selectivity. Photothermal treatment of disseminated CRC showed that only HA-HDAPPs delivered via intraperitoneal injection had a reduction in the tumor burden, and these nanoparticles also remained in the abdomen following resolution of the tumor. The results of this work confirm that HA-HDAPPs selectively bind to disseminated CRC, with ex vivo tumors having bound HA-HDAPPs capable of photothermal ablation. HA-HDAPPs demonstrated superior binding to tumor regions compared to HDAPPs. Overall, this study displays the theranostic potential of HDAPPs, emphasizing their capacity to detect and photothermally treat disseminated CRC tumors.
THE EURO AREA RECOVERY AND THE ROLE OF ECB POLICY

As a consequence of the unique institutional structure of monetary union, demands on the ECB were even greater than elsewhere. The lack of area-wide fiscal and regulatory authorities placed more responsibility on the ECB, while the fragmentation of Euro markets on national lines as the perceived threat of break-up rose have both intensified the challenges and made responses more difficult to implement.
Costs of illness progression for different multiple sclerosis phenotypes: a population-based study in Sweden

Background Little is known of how the cost of illness and health-related quality of life changes over time after a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Objectives The aim was thus to explore the progression of annual direct and indirect costs and health-related quality of life among people with multiple sclerosis of working ages, following diagnosis with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) or conversion to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) after RRMS. Methods Swedish nationwide registers were linked to estimate the annual cost of illness in 2006–2013 among people with a registered new multiple sclerosis phenotype, including: direct costs, indirect costs, and health-related quality of life. Results Drugs and indirect costs for sick leave were the main cost drivers after diagnosis with RRMS. After conversion to SPMS, the RRMS cost drivers were replaced by indirect costs for disability pension. The main cost driver in newly diagnosed PPMS was indirect costs for sick leave, later replaced by disability pension. Health-related quality of life scores were similar after RRMS and SPMS. Conclusions After initial high indirect costs for sick leave, people with RRMS had higher drug costs compared to people with PPMS. Cost drivers during SPMS initially followed the pattern in the RRMS population, but were replaced by indirect costs for disability pension.
Active Acoustic Contact Sensing for Soft Pneumatic Actuators

We present an active acoustic sensor that turns soft pneumatic actuators into contact sensors. The whole surface of the actuator becomes a sensor, rendering the question of where best to place a contact sensor unnecessary. At the same time, the compliance of the soft actuator remains unaffected. A small, embedded speaker emits a frequency sweep which travels through the actuator before it is recorded with an embedded microphone. The specific contact state of the actuator affects how the sound is modulated while traversing the structure. We learn to recognize these changes in the sound and map them to the corresponding contact locations. We demonstrate the method on the PneuFlex actuator. The active acoustic sensor achieves a classification rate of 93% and mean regression error of 3.7mm. It is robust against background noises and different objects. Finally, we test it on a Panda robot arm and show that it is unaffected by motor noises and other active sensors.
Analysis of Tahoe: A TCP Variant

-Internet has emerged as the basic need of the time. Internet has influenced every part of our life. Shopping, communication, entertainment, business, information, education all aspects of one’s life are available on internet There has been a tremendous increase, almost an exponential rise, in the number of internet users in the recent times, which resulted in the form of congestion problem over the wide area network (WAN). Window size is an important parameter to avoid congestion. The basic idea of this work is to simulate TCP Tahoe using NS2 at different delay times and window size, to find which is best suited window size for this variant, depending on the parameters like bandwidth and delay time.
Microsoft Word-Putman.docx

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity worldwide, and therefore, understanding the traits of successful invaders could mitigate their spread. Many commonly invasive species do well in disturbed habitats, such as urban environments, and their abilities to effectively respond to disturbances could contribute to their invasiveness. Yet, there are noninvasive species that also do well in disturbed habitats. The question remains whether urban invaders behave differently in urban environments than non-invaders, which could suggest an “urban-exploiting” phenotype. In Southern California, the co-occurrence of invasive Italian wall lizards Podarcis siculus, brown anoles Anolis sagrei, and green anoles A. carolinensis, and native western fence lizards Sceloporus occidentalis offers an opportunity to test whether invasives exhibit consistent differences in risk-taking within human-altered habitats compared to a native species. We predicted that invasive lizards would exhibit more bold behavior by having shorter flight-initiation distances (FID) and by being found farther from a refuge (behaviors that would presumably maximize foraging in low risk environments). Invasive populations had similar or longer FIDs, but were consistently found at distances closer to a refuge. Collectively, invasive lizards in urban habitats were not bolder than a native species. Reliance on nearby refuges might help species successfully invade urban habitats, and if a general pattern, may pose an added challenge in detecting or eliminating them.
Importance of Metastasis Site in Survival of Patients with Breast Cancer

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the survival rate of patients with metastatic breast cancer according to the location of metastases and to identify factors related to survival in these patients. Methods: The data of 184 patients who were treated for metastatic breast cancer at the Cumhuriyet University Oncology Center between 2006 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: One hundred eighty-one patients (98%) in the study were female and three were male (2%). The median age at diagnosis was 51 years (range: 18-83 years). Following development of the first metastasis, median survival of the patients was 27 months (1-177 months), two-year survival was 55%, and five-year survival was 27%. The longest survival duration was in the patients with bone metastases, and the shortest survival was noted in patients with brain metastases. Age, menopausal status, diabetes mellitus, performance status, number of metastases (single organ vs. multiple organs), localization of the metastases (bone, liver, and brain metastasis), ER receptor status, grade, lymphovascular invasion, Ca 15.3 levels, and hemoglobin levels were the prognostic factors included in the univariate analyses. Based on the multivariate analyses, the independent prognostic factors affecting survival were diabetes mellitus, lymphovascular invasion positivity, high grade, hemoglobin levels < 12 g/dL, bone metastasis, and multiple organ metastases. Conclusion: The duration of survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer greatly varies based on the site of metastasis. The study results showed that among all the prognostic factors that play significant roles on the survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer, post-menopause, presence of diabetes mellitus, lymphovascular invasion positivity, high disease grade, and multiple organ metastases represent the poor independent prognostic factors; whereas presence of bone metastasis is a good independent prognostic factor.
Adopting learning design with LAMS : multidimensional, synchronous large-scale adoption of innovation

Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) has been trialled and used by users from many countries around the globe, but despite the positive attitude towards its potential benefits to pedagogical processes its adoption in practice has been uneven, reflecting how difficult it is to make a new technology based concept an integral part of the education system. In order to investigate and determine the elements that block the adoption of learning design tools in general, the study will review research papers that have been published in recent years on this subject, especially LAMS. The study will discuss patterns of critical aspects related to adoption of learning design tools and derive a framework that can be used in follow-up studies aimed at collecting relevant empirical data from practitioners to identify key progress measures of the adoption process. These measures may be used later to devise strategies that will see increased adoption of online learning design tools such as LAMS in school systems and higher education institutions.
An efficient feature selection using multi-criteria in text categorization for naïve Bayes classifier

Feature selection is one of the most interesting problems in machine learning in general and text categorization in particular. Previous researches in feature selection often focus on choosing appropriate measument to evaluate features. This seems to be good for structured data but rather difficult to text, a nonstructured data. Our main contribution in this paper is to propose a new approach of feature selection based on multi-criteria ranking of features. A new model for feature selection is propose; based on a threshold value for each criterion, a new procedure for feature selection is proposed and applied to a text categorization. Experiments show that the proposed model outperforms performances in compare to conventional feature selection methods.
Biomarkers for prediction of cerebrovascular diseases associated complications and outcome

Un accident cerebrovasculaire est une urgence medicale responsable d'une forte proportion de deces (5,9 millions par an). Les infections et plus concretement la pneumonie, sont la complication la plus frequente, en produisant environ 30% de deces. Meme si leur diagnostic precoce est necessaire pour commencer avec l'antibiotherapie dans le plus court delai, celle-ci est une tâche difficile pour les medecins. Par consequent, afin d'appliquer de nouvelles strategies de traitement, l'objective de cette etude etait de decouvrir et de valider des biomarqueurs d'infection capables de predire les patients qui developperont une infection pendant leur hospitalisation. En utilisant des approches de proteomique quantitative et en incluant des donnees de la litterature, nous avons mis en evidence deux potentiels biomarqueurs : la neopterin et la SAA. Ces molecules sont un excellent outil pour commencer avec l'antibiotherapie plus precocement, conduisant a une meilleure prise en charge des patients et a une amelioration des pronostiques.