julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Interpretable Detection of Epiretinal Membrane from Optical Coherence Tomography with Deep Neural Networks
2022-11-29

Abstract Purpose To automatically detect epiretinal membranes (ERMs) of different sizes in various OCT scans of the central and paracentral macula region and classify them by size using deep neural networks (DNNs). Methods 11,061 OCT-images of 624 volume OCT scans (624 eyes of 461 patients) were included and graded according to the presence of an ERM and its size (small 100-1000μm, large &gt;1000 μm). The data set was divided into training, validation and test sets (comprising of 75%, 10%, 15% of the data, respectively). An ensemble of DNNs was trained and saliency maps were generated using Guided Backprob. OCT-scans were also transformed into a one-dimensional value using t-SNE analysis. Results The DNNs’ receiver-operating-characteristics on the test set showed a high performance for no ERM, small ERM and large ERM cases (AUC: 0.99, 0.92, 0.99, respectively; 3-way accuracy: 89%), with small ERMs being the most difficult ones to detect. t-SNE analysis sorted cases by size and, in particular, revealed increased classification uncertainty at the transitions between groups. Saliency maps reliably highlighted ERMs, regardless of the presence of other OCT features (i.e. retinal thickening, intraretinal pseudocysts, epiretinal proliferation) and entities such as ERM-retinoschisis, macular pseudohole and lamellar macular hole. Conclusion DNNs can reliably detect and grade ERMs according to their size not only in the fovea but also in the paracentral region. This is also achieved in cases of hard-to-detect, small ERMs. In addition, the generated saliency maps can be used effectively to highlight small ERMs that might otherwise be missed. The proposed model could be used for screening programs or decision support systems in the future.
A one‐day focused cardiac ultrasound training has a limited impact on residents’ abilities to visually assess right ventricular dimensions and function
2022-11-29

Abstract Background Focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) is a helpful tool to rapidly identify right ventricular (RV) causes of hemodynamic instability and facilitate the initiation of therapy. The clinical value of existing course models often remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of a one‐day FCU training on the visual estimation skills of RV characteristics. Methods Four residents were included as the study group after completing a standardized one‐day FCU training. Four gender‐matched controls did not take part in the training. All residents graded image quality, RV systolic function, and RV dimensions in a test comprising 35 ultrasound clips. Results The study and control group did not differ in ICU or ultrasound experience. Overall, training participants were able to distinguish between good and insufficient image quality significantly better than the control group (agreement 80.0% vs 61.4%, p = 0.04). The agreement for the estimation of RV function and RV dimensions was not different between the groups (63.2% vs 60.5%, p = 0.66 and 64.3% vs 67.1%, p = 0.18, respectively). Descriptively, only small differences were found between the groups for the estimation of RV function and RV dimensions in subgroups of patients with normal versus reduced systolic RV function or normal versus enlarged RV dimensions, respectively. Both groups struggled in identifying RV enlargement (34.6% vs 46.2%). Discussion In this study, a single one‐day FCU training had no impact on residents’ skills to visually assess systolic RV function or RV dimensions. Improvements of current training modalities or continuous teaching models are needed to optimize residency programs and patient care.
Ethnographic semantics and documentary method in criminology. A combination of reconstructive approaches using the example of Municipal Law Enforcement Services
2022-11-29

Abstract Although a common German sociological methodology, the documentary method has rarely been received outside the German-speaking region or in the field of criminology in general. Additionally, while ethnographic semantics is a recognized means of analysis in the field of ethnography, it is less known in criminological research. This paper proposes that the approaches in themselves but especially a combination of both allow for a deeper understanding of the cultural practices, everyday routines, and implicit knowledge of security actors. While the police are a constant focus of criminological and social science research, the study of Municipal Law Enforcement Services (MLES), particularly qualitative approaches, have been largely neglected, despite the increasing number of municipalities implementing their own security personnel. Consequently, their increased presence in public space warrants further investigation. The added value of linking two reconstructive approaches to analysis is demonstrated using MLES as an example. Thereby, both the advantages of such a combination for criminological research and new insights regarding the ways MLES interact with people in public space are illustrated. The research follows an ethnomethodological design and is based on expert interviews and participant observation. The paper addresses peripheral issues on three levels: the use of a previously geographically limited method of data analysis, an innovative triangulation of approaches to analysis that has not yet been applied in international criminological research as well as the presentation of German MLES as an under-researched subject.
PRECESSION-DRIVEN SOUTH AMERICAN PRECIPITATION DIPOLE OVER THE LAST 113 KA
2022-11-29

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Tropical South American hydroclimate sustains the world&amp;rsquo;s highest biodiversity and hundreds of millions of people. Whitin this region, Amazonia and northeastern Brazil have attracted much attention due to their high biological and social vulnerabilities to climate change (i.e. considered climate change hotspots). Still, their future response to climate change remains uncertain. On precession timescale, it has been suggested that periods of decreased western Amazonian&amp;nbsp;precipitation were accompanied by increased northeastern Brazilian precipitation and vice-versa, setting an east&amp;ndash;west tropical South American precipitation dipole. However, the very existence of this precession-driven precipitation dipole remains unsettled given the scarcity of long and appropriate northeastern Brazilian records. Here we show that the precession-driven South American precipitation dipole has persisted over the last 113 ka as revealed by a northern northeastern Brazilian precipitation record obtained from quartz thermoluminescence sensitivity measured in marine sediment cores. Precession-induced austral summer insolation changes drove the precipitation dipole through&amp;nbsp;the interhemispheric temperature gradient control over the regional Walker circulation and the Intertropical Convergence Zone seasonal migration range. Since modern global warming affects the interhemispheric temperature gradient, our study provides insights about possible future tropical South American hydroclimate responses.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;
Tracking human skill learning with a hierarchical Bayesian sequence model
2022-11-30

Humans can implicitly learn complex perceptuo-motor skills over the course of large numbers of trials. This likely depends on our becoming better able to take advantage of ever richer and temporally deeper predictive relationships in the environment. Here, we offer a novel characterization of this process, fitting a non-parametric, hierarchical Bayesian sequence model to the reaction times of human participants’ responses over ten sessions, each comprising thousands of trials, in a serial reaction time task involving higher-order dependencies. The model, adapted from the domain of language, forgetfully updates trial-by-trial, and seamlessly combines predictive information from shorter and longer windows onto past events, weighing the windows proportionally to their predictive power. As the model implies a posterior over window depths, we were able to determine how, and how many, previous sequence elements influenced individual participants’ internal predictions, and how this changed with practice. Already in the first session, the model showed that participants had begun to rely on two previous elements (i.e., trigrams), thereby successfully adapting to the most prominent higher-order structure in the task. The extent to which local statistical fluctuations in trigram frequency influenced participants’ responses waned over subsequent sessions, as participants forgot the trigrams less and evidenced skilled performance. By the eighth session, a subset of participants shifted their prior further to consider a context deeper than two previous elements. Finally, participants showed resistance to interference and slow forgetting of the old sequence when it was changed in the final sessions. Model parameters for individual participants covaried appropriately with independent measures of working memory and error characteristics. In sum, the model offers the first principled account of the adaptive complexity and nuanced dynamics of humans’ internal sequence representations during long-term implicit skill learning.
Neurodevelopmental effects of genetic frontotemporal dementia in young adult mutation carriers
2022-11-30

Abstract While frontotemporal dementia has been considered a neurodegenerative disease that starts in mid-life or later, it is now clearly established that cortical and subcortical volume loss is observed more than a decade prior to symptom onset and progresses with ageing. To test the hypothesis that genetic mutations causing frontotemporal dementia have neurodevelopmental consequences, we examined the youngest adults in the GENFI cohort of pre-symptomatic frontotemporal dementia mutation carriers who are between 19 and 30 years of age. Structural brain differences and improved performance on some cognitive tests were found for MAPT and GRN mutation carriers relative to familial non-carriers, while smaller volumes were observed in C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers at a mean age of 26 years. The detection of such early differences supports potential advantageous neurodevelopmental consequences of some frontotemporal dementia-causing genetic mutations. These results have implications for the design of therapeutic interventions for frontotemporal dementia. Future studies at younger ages are needed to identify specific early pathophysiologic or compensatory processes that occur during the neurodevelopmental period.
S1‐Guideline: Microscopically controlled surgery
2022-11-30

Summary Microscopically controlled surgery (MCS) comprises various methods allowing histologically proven complete resection of malignant tumors while at the same time sparing the tumor‐free tissue in the immediate vicinity as much as possible. All procedures subsumed under MCS have in common the marking of the excised tissue for topographical orientation, which provides an assignment of remaining tumor remnants. Indications for MCS are malignant skin tumors in problem localizations as well as aggressive subtypes of skin tumors. Established indications for MCS include basal cell carcinoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, Bowen’s disease as well as Bowen’s carcinoma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, melanoma in chronically light‐damaged skin as well as acral lentiginous melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma. For other tumors such as extramammary Paget’s disease and various cutaneous sarcomas, evidence exists that MCS has demonstrated benefits, such as local recurrence rates. In addition, MCS is indicated when it is foreseeable that a complex closure technique is required and complete resection of the tumor must be assured. Various methods of MCS have been described, including 3D histology, horizontal method and Mohs surgery. A close cooperation of qualified surgeons and (dermato)pathologists as well as laboratory staff is essential for the successful application of MCS.
The More Competent, the Better? The Effects of Perceived Competencies on Disclosure Towards Conversational Artificial Intelligence
2022-11-30

Conversational AI (e.g., Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa) is present in many people’s everyday life and, at the same time, becomes more and more capable of solving more complex tasks. However, it is unclear how the growing capabilities of conversational AI affect people’s disclosure towards the system as previous research has revealed mixed effects of technology competence. To address this research question, we propose a framework systematically disentangling conversational AI competencies along the lines of the dimensions of human competencies suggested by the action regulation theory. Across two correlational studies and three experiments ( N total = 1453), we investigated how these competencies differentially affect users’ and non-users’ disclosure towards conversational AI. Results indicate that intellectual competencies (e.g., planning actions and anticipating problems) in a conversational AI heighten users’ willingness to disclose and reduce their privacy concerns. In contrast, meta-cognitive heuristics (e.g., deriving universal strategies based on previous interactions) raise privacy concerns for users and, even more so, for non-users but reduce willingness to disclose only for non-users. Thus, the present research suggests that not all competencies of a conversational AI are seen as merely positive, and the proposed differentiation of competencies is informative to explain effects on disclosure.
Motivations for birdwatching scale – Developing and testing an integrated measure on birding motivations
2022-11-30

Introduction Birding has become a widespread, nature-related outdoor leisure activity. However, birding motivation has received little attention in research on this leisure activity so far. Since previous work showed some inconsistencies that are based on different measurements and concepts, the current study aimed at unifying and broadening the construct of birding motivation. For this purpose, we summarized the previous attempts to assess and categorize birding motivation and tried to unify them in one measurement model. Methods Starting point was a widely accepted model on outdoor recreation to which further dimensions have been added. We investigated birders (N=569) from German speaking countries regarding their birding motivations, birding specialization, and participation in various bird-related projects. Results Exploratory factor analysis revealed six motivation factors: Enjoyment had the highest scale mean, followed by achievement, conservation, detachment, social, and finally reputation. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a better fit of the posited six-factor model compared to the previous three-factor model supporting the initial concept of adding further scales to cover the motivational constructs more widely. Higher skilled, specialized and involved birders showed higher motivation in the dimensions conservation, social, and reputation. Conservation motivation was highly correlated with submitting observations to a citizen sciences portal and with participating in breeding bird surveys or waterbird counts. Discussion With our results, we expand the basic three-dimensional model of recreation motivation with the additional dimensions conservation, detachment, and reputation.
Analyzing and modeling the latency and jitter behavior of mixed industrial TSN and DetNet networks
2022-11-30

Today, industrial real-time communication is commonly designed based on two key principles to satisfy the challenging Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of industrial applications: a) local communication and b) purpose-built networks. IEEE Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) and IETF Deterministic Networking (DetNet) promise to lift these two limitations. This facilitates the transformation of previously loosely integrated automation network parts from isolated, purpose-built real-time networks to more tightly integrated, open, multi-purpose networks of networks. With TSN and DetNet, each of these interconnected networks, e.g., machine or backbone networks, can and will be fined-tuned for optimal performance regarding the different real-time applications located inside them. The resulting patchwork of DetNet-connected TSN networks, however, creates a challenge for cross-network real-time communication: predicting QoS properties, such as the end-to-end latency. To address this challenge, we propose a model that allows calculating best-case and worst-case latencies for time-critical communication across different DetNet-connected TSN networks. This enables validating end-to-end communication requirements in open, multi-purpose industrial networks. Our evaluation with real industrial hardware shows the applicability of our proposed model.
Pillepallescapes – Journeys to the edges of socially shared landscape constructions
2022-11-30

In this paper, the construction of landscape is contoured by its negation of non-landscape, making visible a space of meaning that we call pillepallescapes.Pillepallescapes is understood, among other things, as a secondary meaning that can often lead to disputes about its relevance, thus revealing ambiguous polyvalences in the quest to unify the world.We introduce pillepall to the context of landscape studies for elements which, from certain perspectives, appear to be insignificant to these landscape constructions.However, it is at these borderlines of meaningfulness -the pillepallescapes, the object of what oscillates between landscape and non-landscape -that conflicts over landscape interpretive sovereignty seem to spark.When framed neopragmatically, this contribution self-ironically opens up a relevant extension for landscape research, from which methodologicalanalytical, as well as cartographic innovation potentials, can be derived.
A Pro-Regenerative Environment Triggers Premalignant to Malignant Transformation of Senescent Hepatocytes
2022-11-30

Abstract Unfortunately, available liver cancer treatments are associated with modest survival advantage. The biggest factor improving survival is early detection, but the current understanding of early transformation events is limited. Therefore, we set up a model to study these early events and investigated the relationship of premalignant, senescent hepatocytes, a regenerative environment, and the influence of secreted factors on liver tumorigenesis. Oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) was triggered in a subset of mouse hepatocytes, which under normal conditions, are eliminated by immunosurveillance. Inducing liver damage and regeneration was sufficient to trigger immunosurveillance escape of OIS hepatocytes, resulting in premalignant to malignant transformation and hepatocellular tumor development. Trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) was found to be overexpressed in OIS hepatocytes and in hepatocellular carcinoma. TFF3 deficiency strongly attenuated malignant transformation by increasing insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5 (IGFBP5) expression, which consequently dampened IGF receptor signaling. Furthermore, analysis of precancerous liver tissue validated TFF3 as an early liver cancer biomarker. Altogether, these findings provide mechanistic insights into early transformation and immunosurveillance escape in liver cancer, revealing TFF3 and IGFBP5 to be important players with opposite roles in tumorigenesis. Significance: Liver damage induces a compensatory regenerative response that can drive premalignant to malignant transformation of senescent hepatocytes.
Multiscalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity: Scalarized black holes beyond spontaneous scalarization
2022-11-30

Recently, a new nonlinear mechanism for black hole scalarization, different from the standard spontaneous scalarization, was demonstrated to exist for scalar Gauss-Bonnet theories in which no tachyonic instabilities can occur. Thus Schwarzschild black hole is linearly stable but instead nonlinear instability can kick-in. In the present paper we extend on this idea in the case of multi-scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity with exponential coupling functions of third and fourth leading order in the scalar field. The main motivation comes from the fact that these theories admit hairy compact objects with zero scalar charge, thus zero scalar-dipole radiation, that automatically evades the binary pulsar constraints on the theory parameters. We demonstrate numerically the existence of scalarized black holes for both coupling functions and for all possible maximally symmetric scalar field target spaces. The thermodynamics and the stability of the obtained solution branches is also discussed.
New charge-transfer complexes of 1,2,5-chalcogenadiazoles with tetrathiafulvalenes
2022-11-30

Despite noteworthy charge transfer and numerous intermolecular interactions, the title complexes (chalcogen = S, Se and Te) are weakly bonded; the most important contributions to the interaction energy are of dispersion and electrostatic nature.
Limitations in evaluating COVID-19 protective face masks using open circuit spirometry systems: respiratory measurement mask introduces bias in breathing pressure and perceived respiratory effort
2022-11-30

Abstract Objective. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting widespread use of protective face masks, studies have been and are being conducted to investigate potential side effects of wearing masks on the performance and physiological parameters of wearers. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether and to what extent the use of a respiratory measurement (RM) mask—which is normally used during open-circuit spirometry—influences the results of these types of studies. Approach. 34 subjects were involved in this intra-subject study with a cross-over design. Four different protective face masks, Community Mask, medical Mouth-Nose-Protection Mask, Filtering Face Piece Mask Class 2 (FFP2), and FFP2 with exhalation valve (FFP2ex), were tested at rest and during deep breathing by using or not using a RM mask (RM versus noRM). Breathing pressure inside the protective face masks was measured during inhalation and exhalation, and subjects rated breathing effort using an 11-stage Borg scale. Main results. The use of an additional RM mask—worn over the protective face masks—significantly increased inspiratory pressures under all mask conditions. The respiratory pressure rises to a level that substantially distorts the results. Expiratory pressure was also significantly increased except for the FFP2ex mask condition. The perceived respiratory effort was significantly increased by 1.0 to 2.8 steps on the Borgs scale for all mask conditions compared with noRM. Significance. We strongly recommend avoiding the use of RM masks for evaluating the effects of protective face masks on human physiology and subjective perception.
Targeting of MMP-13 prevents aortic aneurysm formation in Marfan mice
2022-11-30

Abstract Fibrillin-1 assembles into microfibrils that not only define the structural integrity and biomechanics of the aorta but also target and sequester growth factors within the extracellular microenvironment of aortic resident cells. To better understand how dominant negative effects on fibrillin microfibril stability manifest in growth factor driven aortic disease, we analyzed early events of aortic aneurysm formation within the first two weeks of postnatal life in the dominant negative Fbn1 GT8 Marfan mouse model. Echocardiography analysis of homozygous GT8 Fbn1 mice showed significant aortic root enlargement within the second week of postnatal life which correlated with the onset of fibrillin-1 fiber degradation, aberrantly increased BMP activity and upregulated transcript levels of the collagenase MMP-13. We also found the aortic collagen network structurally disturbed where the mutant GT8-fibrillin-1 was detected. Genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of MMP-13 in Fbn1 GT8 Marfan mice prevents aortic root dilatation implicating the relevance of this mechanism in aortic aneurysm formation in Marfan syndrome.