Heart rate from face videos under realistic conditions for advanced driver monitoring

Abstract The role of physiological signals has a large impact on driver monitoring systems, since it tells something about the human state. This work addresses the recursive probabilistic inference problem in time-varying linear dynamic systems to incorporate invariance into the task of heart rate estimation from face videos under realistic conditions. The invariance encapsulates motion as well as varying illumination conditions in order to accurately estimate vitality parameters from human faces using conventional camera technology. The solution is based on the canonical state space representation of an Itô process and a Wiener velocity model. Empirical results yield to excellent real-time and estimation performance of heart rates in presence of disturbing factors, like rigid head motion, talking, facial expressions and natural illumination conditions making the process of human state estimation from face videos applicable in a much broader sense, pushing the technology towards advanced driver monitoring systems.</jats:p

Fano interference and cross-section fluctuations in molecular photodissociation

We derive an expression for the total photodissociation cross section of a molecule incorporating both indirect processes that proceed through excited resonances, and direct processes. We show that this cross section exhibits generalized Beutler-Fano line shapes in the limit of isolated resonances. Assuming that the closed system can be modeled by random matrix theory, we derive the statistical properties of the photodissociation cross section and find that they are significantly affected by the direct processes. We identify a unique signature of the direct processes in the cross-section distribution in the limit of isolated resonances.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Systems toxicology to advance human and environmental hazard assessment : A roadmap for advanced materials

Ideally, a Systems Toxicology (ST) approach is aimed at by (eco)toxicologists, i.e. a multidisciplinary area incorporating classical toxicological concepts with omics technologies, and the understanding of this through computational data sciences, chemistry, mathematics, and physics modelling. As outlined in sev-eral public reports (e.g. from ECHA-European Chemical Agency and EFSA-European Food Safety Authority), the way forward in the coming years in Europe is to integrate New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) (in-cluding omics technologies) into hazard and hence risk assessment (RA). Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) describe a sequence of events in response to stress, from the molecular initiating event until an adverse outcome, which is relevant to RA or regulatory decision-making. AOPs are one of the facilitators to integrate mechanistic data into RA, but it is urgent to increase the inclusion of the vast mechanistic knowledge available, especially for the RA of novel smart and advanced materials (AdMa) with multi-functional characteristics. There are still many challenges to the routine usage of NAMs, e.g. omics-based information. Here, we summarise the current state of the art of ST, the benefits of human and environ-mental health cross knowledge and the available methods and output. The importance of this area has been highlighted for many years but is even more pressing in the context of AdMa. Furthermore, we outline the challenges and suggest recommendations for future implementation.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Niraparib Maintenance Therapy in Patients With Recurrent Ovarian Cancer After a Partial Response to the Last Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA Trial

PURPOSEIn the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01847274), maintenance therapy with niraparib, a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor, prolonged progression-free survival in patients with platinum-sensitive, recurrent ovarian cancer who had a response to their last platinum-based chemotherapy. The objective of the study was to assess the clinical benefit and patient-reported outcomes in patients who had a partial response (PR) and complete response (CR) to their last platinum-based therapy.PATIENTS AND METHODSA total of 553 patients were enrolled in the trial. Of 203 patients with a germline BRCA mutation (gBRCAmut), 99 had a PR and 104 had a CR to their last platinum-based therapy; of 350 patients without a confirmed gBRCAmut (non?gBRCAmut), 173 had a PR and 177 had a CR. Post hoc analyses were carried out to evaluate safety and the risk of progression in these patients according to gBRCAmut status and response to their last platinum-based therapy. Ovarian cancer?specific symptoms and quality of life were assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy?Ovarian Symptom Index.RESULTSProgression-free survival was improved in patients treated with niraparib compared with placebo in both the gBRCAmut cohort (PR: hazard ratio [HR], 0.24; 95% CI, 0.131 to 0.441; P < .0001; CR: HR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.160 to 0.546; P < .0001) and the non?gBRCAmut cohort (PR: HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.230 to 0.532; P < .0001; CR: HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.383 to 0.868; P = .0082). The incidence of any-grade and grade 3 or greater adverse events was manageable. No meaningful differences were observed between niraparib and placebo in PR and CR subgroups with respect to patient-reported outcomes.CONCLUSIONPatients achieved clinical benefit from maintenance treatment with niraparib regardless of response to the last platinum-based therapy

Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

The growth and proliferation of global systems and transnational cultures have generated larger and more diverse types of cosmopolitans, all of whom span conventional social boundaries. Understanding this diversity is increasingly important because cosmopolitans often bridge across a wide range of transnational and global networks within and across global organizations. Drawing on multiple disciplines, we conceptualize cosmopolitanism as an embodied disposition characterized by high levels of cultural transcendence and openness that are manifested in and enacted along varied trajectories of cultural embeddedness in one’s own culture and cultural engagement with the cultural Other. We then propose an analytical framework for the influence of cosmopolitan disposition on transcultural brokerage processes, specifically on bridging structural and cultural holes. Finally, we present a typology of cosmopolitan brokers and their corresponding practices and activities as they engage in transcultural brokerage. By recognizing the diversity of cosmopolitans and their respective dispositions, we significantly expand the pool of “global talent” beyond the traditional focus on expatriates, and we challenge the conventional wisdom on who counts as talent in an interconnected world

The fungal snoRNAome

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are essential players in the rRNA biogenesis due to their involvement in the nucleolytic processing of the precursor and the subsequent guidance of nucleoside modifications. Within the kingdom Fungi, merely a few species-specific surveys have explored their snoRNA repertoire. However, the wide range of the snoRNA landscape spanning all major fungal lineages has not been mapped so far, mainly because of missing tools for automatized snoRNA detection and functional analysis. For the first time, we report here a comprehensive inventory of fungal snoRNAs together with a functional analysis and an in-depth investigation of their evolutionary history including innovations, deletions, and target switches. This large-scale analysis, incorporating more than 120 snoRNA families with more than 7700 individual snoRNA sequences, catalogs and clarifies the landscape of fungal snoRNA families, assigns functions to previously orphan snoRNAs, and increases the number of sequences by 450%. We also show that the snoRNAome is subject to ongoing rearrangements and adaptations, e.g., through lineage-specific targets and redundant guiding functions

Heart rate from face videos under realistic conditions for advanced driver monitoring

The role of physiological signals has a large impact on driver monitoring systems, since it tells something about the human state. This work addresses the recursive probabilistic inference problem in time-varying linear dynamic systems to incorporate invariance into the task of heart rate estimation from face videos under realistic conditions. The invariance encapsulates motion as well as varying illumination conditions in order to accurately estimate vitality parameters from human faces using conventional camera technology. The solution is based on the canonical state space representation of an Itô process and a Wiener velocity model. Empirical results yield to excellent real-time and estimation performance of heart rates in presence of disturbing factors, like rigid head motion, talking, facial expressions and natural illumination conditions making the process of human state estimation from face videos applicable in a much broader sense, pushing the technology towards advanced driver monitoring systems