35 research outputs found
Saliency from hierarchical adaptation through decorrelation and variance normalization
This paper presents a novel approach to visual saliency that relies on a contextually adapted representation produced through adaptive whitening of color and scale features. Unlike previous models, the proposal is grounded on the specific adaptation of the basis of low level features to the statistical structure of the image. Adaptation is achieved through decorrelation and contrast normalization in several steps in a hierarchical approach, in compliance with coarse features described in biological visual systems. Saliency is simply computed as the square of the vector norm in the resulting representation. The performance of the model is compared with several state-of-the-art approaches, in predicting human fixations using three different eye-tracking datasets. Referring this measure to the performance of human priority maps, the model proves to be the only one able to keep the same behavior through different datasets, showing free of biases. Moreover, it is able to predict a wide set of relevant psychophysical observations, to our knowledge, not reproduced together by any other model before.S
Decorrelation and distinctiveness provide with human-like saliency
This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Natureâs AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04697-1_32In this work, we show the capability of a new model of saliency, of reproducing remarkable psychophysical results. The model presents low computational complexity compared to other models of the state of the art. It is based in biologically plausible mechanisms: the decorrelation and the distinctiveness of local responses. Decorrelation of scales is obtained from principal component analysis of multiscale low level features. Distinctiveness is measured through the Hotellingâs T2 statistic. The model is conceived to be used in a machine vision system, in which attention would contribute to enhance performance together with other visual functions. Experiments demonstrate the consistency with a wide variety of psychophysical phenomena, that are referenced in the visual attention modeling literature, with results that outperform other state of the art models.This work has been granted by the Spanish Government (TIN2006-08447),and by the Government of Galicia (PGIDIT07PXIB206028PR)
Improving Scene Recognition Through Visual Attention
In this paper we study how the use of a novel model of bottom-up saliency (visual attention), based on local energy and color, can significantly accelerate scene recognition and, at the same time, preserve the recognition performance. To do so, we use a mobile robot-like application where scene recognition is performed through the use of SIFT features to characterize the different scenarios, and the Nearest Neighbor rule to carry out the classification. Experimental work shows that important reductions in the size of the database of prototypes can be achieved (17.6% of the original size) without significant losses in recognition performance (from 98.5% to 96.1%), thus accelerating the classification task.Work financially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Spanish Government (research projects AVISTA TIN2006-08447 and DPI2007-66596-C02-01), and the Government of Galicia (research project PGIDIT07PXIB206028PR)
Air-sea CO2 fluxes in the Atlantic as measured during the FICARAM cruises
A total of fourteen hydrographic cruises spanning from 2000 to 2008 were conducted
during the spring and autumn seasons between Spain and the Southern Ocean, under
the framework of the Spanish research project FICARAM. The performed underway measurements are processed and analysed to describe the meridional air-sea CO2
fluxes (F CO2) along the Atlantic Ocean. The data was organised into different biogeochemical
oceanographic provinces, according mainly to the thermohaline characteristics.
The obtained spatial and temporal distributions of F CO2 follow the generally expected
patterns and annual trends. The Subtropical regions in both hemispheres alternated the CO2 source and sink nature from autumn to spring, respectively. On the other
hand, Tropical waters and the Patagonian Sea clearly behaved as sinks of atmospheric
CO2 like the waters of the Drake Passage during autumn. The obtained results during
the cruises also revealed significant long-term trends, such as the warming of equatorial
waters (0.11±0.03 Cyrâ1) and the decrease of surface salinity (â0.16±0.01 yrâ1)
in tropical waters caused by the influence of the Amazon River plume. This reduction
in surface salinity appears to have a direct influence over the CO2 storage rates, fostering
the uptake capacity of atmospheric CO2 (â0.09±0.03 molmâ2 yrâ1). An analysis
of the biogeochemical forcing on the CO2 fugacity (fCO2) variability performed from
an empirical algorithm highlighted the major role of the Amazon River input in the tropical North Atlantic fluxes. In addition, it has provided a quantitative measure of the
importance of the thermodynamic control of F CO2 at temperate latitudes
Ageism and nursing students, past or reality?: a systematic review
Objective: This systematic review aimed to summarise and update existing knowledge about ageism among nursing students through the following research question: what is the perception and attitudes of ageism among student nurses? Design: A systematic review of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of ageism in nursing students was carried out. Data sources: The literature search was conducted in the scientific databases Pubmed and Scopus in February 2021. Review methods: After the screening process, 22 studies meeting the selection criteria were selected; 8 more were identified after manually searching the selected paper' reference lists. A total of 30 studies were included in the review. The JBI Critical Appraisal Checklists for Analytical Cross-Sectional studies and for Cohort Studies were used to appraise the articles' quality. Results: There was large variability in the manifestation of ageism among student nurses, as well as in the instruments used for assessment. Most of the articles analysed attitudes towards old age, the majority of which were positive. Being a female student, being on the final year of study and having regular contact or cohabitation with an older adult were three of the main determinants in the expression of positive attitudes towards the elderly. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that student nurses generally have positive attitudes towards old age, although ageist beliefs and discriminatory behaviours were identified and should be studied in greater depth. Training programs for future care professionals have a responsibility to educate from a non-stereotypical perspective based on current societal needs
Community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalised patients: changes in aetiology, clinical presentation, and severity outcomes in a 10-year period
Staphylococcus aureus; Mortality; VirologyStaphylococcus aureus; Mortalidad; VirologĂaStaphylococcus aureus; Mortalitat; VirologiaBackground and objective
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a frequent cause of hospitalisation. Several factors, such as pandemics, vaccines and globalisation may lead to changes in epidemiology, clinical presentation, and outcomes of CAP, which oblige to a constant actualisation. We performed this study to analyse how these factors have evolved over a 10-year period.
Materials and methods
Patients diagnosed with CAP for two 1-year periods that were 10âyears apart (2007â2008 and 2017â2018) were included. We compared microbiological information, clinical data and evolutive outcomes in the two periods. A mortality analysis was performed.
Results
1043 patients were included: 452 during the first period (2007- 2008), and 591 during the second period (2017â2018). Bacterial aetiology did not change during the 10-year period, besides a slight increase in Staphylococcus aureus (0.9% vs 2.9%, pâ=â0.026). There was a decline in the proportion of bacteraemia in the second period (14.8% vs 9.6%, pâ=â0.012). The incidence of complicated pleural effusion and septic shock declined too (6.4% vs 3.6%, pâ=â0.04 and 15.5% vs 6.3%, pâ<â0.001). Respiratory failure and Intensive care unit (ICU) admission were similar in both periods. Variables independently associated with mortality were age and septic shock. Influenza vaccine was a protective factor against mortality in the second period.
Conclusions
We have not found relevant differences in the bacterial aetiology of CAP over this 10-year period. There has been a decline in septic complications of CAP such as septic shock, bacteraemia, and complicated pleural effusion. Influenza vaccination is an important tool to reduce mortality
Hospital-acquired influenza infections detected by a surveillance system over six seasons, from 2010/2011 to 2015/2016
In addition to outbreaks of nosocomial influenza, sporadic nosocomial influenza infections also occur but are generally not reported in the literature. This study aimed to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of cases of nosocomial influenza compared with the remaining severe cases of severe influenza in acute hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) which were identified by surveillance. An observational case-case epidemiological study was carried out in patients aged â„18 years from Catalan 12 hospitals between 2010 and 2016. For each laboratory-confirmed influenza case (nosocomial or not) we collected demographic, virological and clinical characteristics. We defined patients with nosocomial influenza as those admitted to a hospital for a reason other than acute respiratory infection in whom ILI symptoms developed â„48 h after admission and influenza virus infection was confirmed using RT-PCR. Mixed-effects regression was used to estimate the crude and adjusted OR. One thousand seven hundred twenty-two hospitalized patients with severe laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection were included: 96 (5.6%) were classified as nosocomial influenza and more frequently had > 14 days of hospital stay (42.7% vs. 27.7%, P <.001) and higher mortality (18.8% vs. 12.6%, P <.02). The variables associated with nosocomial influenza cases in acute-care hospital settings were chronic renal disease (aOR 2.44 95% CI 1.44-4.15) and immunodeficiency (aOR 1.79 95% CI 1.04-3.06). Nosocomial infections are a recurring problem associated with high rates of chronic diseases and death. These findings underline the need for adherence to infection control guidelines
Watchful Waiting After Radiological Guided Drainage of Intra-abdominal Abscess in Patients With Crohn's Disease Might Be Associated With Increased Rates of Stoma Construction
Background: Management of spontaneous intra-abdominal abscess (IAA) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) with radiologically guided percutaneous drainage (PD) was debated. Methods: This is a secondary analysis from a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of all the patients with CD who underwent PD followed by surgery at 19 international tertiary centers. Results: Seventeen patients (4.8%) who did not undergo surgery after PD were compared to those who had PD followed by surgical intervention 335/352 (95.2%). Patients who had PD without surgery were those with longer disease duration, more frequently had previous surgery for CD (laparotomies/laparoscopies), enteric fistula, on steroid treatment before and continue to have it after PD. Patients who had PD without subsequent surgical resection had a higher risk of stoma construction at later stages 8/17 (47.1%) versus 90/326 (27.6%) (P < .01). Patients with PD with no subsequent surgery had numerically higher rates of abscess recurrence 5/17 (29.4%) compared to those who had PD followed by surgery 45/335 (13.4%) the difference was not statistically significant (P = .07). Conclusions: Even with the low number of patients enrolled in this study who had PD of IAA without subsequent surgery, the findings indicate a markedly worse prognosis in terms of recurrence, length of stay, readmission, and stoma construction. Watchful waiting after PD to treat patients with spontaneous IAA might be indicated in selected patients with poor health status or poor prognostic factors
Pond research and management in Europe: "Small is Beautiful"
The phrase "Small is Beautiful" was first used by the talented scholar Leopold Kohr (1909 131994), but it becames more popular thanks to the essays of one of his students, the British economist E. F. Schumacher, and it was coined as a response to the socially established idea that "Big is Powerful". It could be argued that this desire for "bigness" explains why current legal frameworks and the conservation planning and management related to standing waters often overlook ponds, despite their well-known value in terms of biodiversity and socio-economic benefits (Oertli et al., 2004; Cereghino et al., 2008). Of course, this is only one of several possible explanations, but it is important to understand that such long-established ideas can have a lasting effect upon the efficiency of our conservation actions. Beyond this social perspective, the history of science can also provide some explanation as to why ponds have been undervalued for so long
Modifiable risk factors associated with prediabetes in men and women: A cross-sectional analysis of the cohort study in primary health care on the evolution of patients with prediabetes
Background: Prediabetes is a high-risk state for diabetes development, but little is known about the factors associated with this state. The aim of the study was to identify modifiable risk factors associated with the presence of prediabetes in men and women.
Methods: Cohort Study in Primary Health Care on the Evolution of Patients with Prediabetes (PREDAPS-Study) is a prospective study on a cohort of 1184 subjects with prediabetes and another cohort of 838 subjects without glucose metabolism disorders. It is being conducted by 125 general practitioners in Spain. Data for this analysis were collected during the baseline stage in 2012. The modifiable risk factors included were: smoking habit, alcohol consumption, low physical activity, inadequate diet, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity. To assess independent association between each factor and prediabetes, odds ratios (ORs) were estimated using logistic regression models.
Results: Abdominal obesity, low plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol), and hypertension were independently associated with the presence of prediabetes in both men and women. After adjusting for all factors, the respective ORs (95% Confidence Intervals) were 1.98 (1.41-2.79), 1.88 (1.23-2.88) and 1.86 (1.39-2.51) for men, and 1.89 (1.36-2.62), 1.58 (1.12-2.23) and 1.44 (1.07-1.92) for women. Also, general obesity was a risk factor in both sexes but did not reach statistical significance among men, after adjusting for all factors. Risky alcohol consumption was a risk factor for prediabetes in men, OR 1.49 (1.00-2.24).
Conclusions: Obesity, low HDL-cholesterol levels, and hypertension were modifiable risk factors independently related to the presence of prediabetes in both sexes. The magnitudes of the associations were stronger for men than women. Abdominal obesity in both men and women displayed the strongest association with prediabetes. The findings suggest that there are some differences between men and women, which should be taken into account when implementing specific recommendations to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes in adult population