Smart tourist information points by combining agents, semantics and AI techniques

The tourism sector in the province of Teruel (Aragon, Spain) is increasing rapidly. Although the number of domestic and foreign tourists is continuously growing, there are some tourist attractions spread over a wide geographical area, which are only visited by a few people at specific times of the year. Additionally, having human tourist guides everywhere and speaking different languages is unfeasible. An integrated solution based on smart and interactive Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) tourist guides combined with ontologies would overcome this problem. This paper presents a smart tourist information points approach which gathers tourism information about Teruel, structured according to a novel lightweight ontology built on OWL (Ontology Web Language), known as TITERIA (Touristic Information of TEruel for Intelligent Agents). Our proposal, which combines TITERIA with the Maxine platform, is capable of responding appropriately to the users thanks to its Artificial Intelligence Modeling Language (AIML) database and the AI techniques added to Maxine. Preliminary results indicate that our prototype is able to inform users about interesting topics, as well as to propose other related information, allowing them to acquire a complete information about any issue. Furthermore, users can directly talk with an artificial actor making communication much more natural and closer

Lupus nephritis: Correlation of interstitial cells with glomerular function

Lupus nephritis: Correlation of interstitial cells with glomerular function. Mononuclear inflammatory cells were studied using monoclonal antibodies in the interstitium and glomeruli of 35 renal biopsy specimens from patients with lupus nephritis already taking immunosuppressants. The aims of this study were to assess the composition and significance of the infiltrate, and to assess correlations with immediate glomerular function and ability to predict the future course of the disease. The majority of interstitial cells were T lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages. The number of interstitial CD4 +ve T helper/ inducer lymphocytes was greater than that of CD8 +ve T cytotoxic/ suppressor cells in only 19 out of 35 biopsies, the mean CD4:CD8 ratio being only 1.5 ± 1.2. NK cells and B lymphocytes were a minor component only. Some expression of IL-2, transferrin and C3b receptors was seen on interstitial cells, but HLA-DR expressing cells were much in excess of controls and the number of tubular cells expressing HLA-DR was also increased. The number of interstitial T cells, CD4 +ve cells and monocytes/macrophages was highly correlated with the extent of chronic damage judged by optical microscopy. There was also an association between glomerular function at biopsy and numbers of interstitial T cells, CD8 +ve cells, monocytes/macrophages and DR expressing cells. Subsequent decline in renal function, however, was associated only with numbers of monocytes/macrophages and the rather small number of C3b receptor-positive cells. The presence of tubulointerstitial immune aggregates of Ig and/or C in 63% of patients was associated with greater numbers of NK cells. As previously described, the degree of renal function at biopsy correlated with a chronicity index based on optical microscopy. No correlations were found between numbers or types (mostly monocyte/macrophages) of intraglomerular leukocytes and clinical or biopsy features, except that more proliferative types showed greater leukocyte numbers. One hypothesis consistent with our findings is that interstitial T cells and monocytes may be important determinants of pathogenesis and progression of lupus nephritis. While several mechanisms may play an initial role, interstitial monocytes may be the major factor in chronic injury

Gaussian boson sampling validation via detector binning

Gaussian boson sampling (GBS), a computational problem conjectured to be hard to simulate on a classical machine, has been at the forefront of recent years' experimental and theoretical efforts to demonstrate quantum advantage. The classical intractability of the sampling task makes validating these experiments a challenging and essential undertaking. In this paper, we propose binned-detector probability distributions as a suitable quantity to statistically validate GBS experiments employing photon-number-resolving detectors. We show how to compute such distributions by leveraging their connection with their respective characteristic function. The latter may be efficiently and analytically computed for squeezed input states as well as for relevant classical hypothesis like squashed states. Our scheme encompasses other validation methods based on marginal distributions and correlation functions. Additionally, it can accommodate various sources of noise, such as losses and partial distinguishability, a feature that have received limited attention within the GBS framework so far. We also illustrate how binned-detector probability distributions behave when Haar-averaged over all possible interferometric networks, extending known results for Fock boson sampling

Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) for the diagnosis of delirium in adults in critical care settings

© 2018 The Cochrane Collaboration. This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Diagnostic test accuracy). The objectives are as follows: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) for the diagnosis of delirium in adult patients in critical care settings

Perfil de personalidad en pacientes con trasplante renal: el modelo alternativo de los cinco factores

Background: There is limited research on personality traits that characterized kidney transplant patients. The aim of this study was to describe personality profile of kidney transplant patients using the Alternative Five Factor Model (AFFM), and compared it with the Spanish standard population. Method: Personality was assessed using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ). A sample of 207 kidney transplant patients was matched by age and gender with 207 standard range controls. A logistic regression analyses was utilized to study the contribution of each ZKPQ dimension to describe the distinctive transplant patient’s profile. Results: Significant differences were showed in Neuroticism-Anxiety (p=.001), Aggression-Hostility (p=.009), and Activity (p=.001) dimensions, with lower scores on transplant patients compared with standard population. But Sociability (p=.024) was significantly higher on kidney transplant patients. In logistic regression analysis low scores on Neuroticism-Anxiety (p=.005) and Activity (p=.001) were the significant predictors to characterize personality traits of kidney transplant patients. Conclusions: Kidney transplant patients had a differential profile under the AFFM compared to standardrange sample, with lower scores on Neuroticism-Anxiety and Activity dimensions.Introducción: la investigación sobre rasgos de personalidad en pacientes con trasplante renal es limitada. El objetivo de este estudio fue describir el perfil de personalidad de pacientes con trasplante renal, utilizando el modelo alternativo de cinco factores (AFFM), y compararlo con población estándar española. Material y métodos: la personalidad fue evaluada mediante el Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ). Una muestra de 207 pacientes con trasplante renal se emparejó por edad y género con 207controles de la población estándar. El análisis de regresión logística permitió estudiar la aportación de cada dimensión del ZKPQ al perfil distintivo de los pacientes trasplantados. Resultados: aparecieron diferencias significativas en las dimensiones de Neuroticismo-Ansiedad (p=.001), Agresión-Hostilidad (p=.009) y Actividad (p=.001), con puntuaciones bajas en pacientes trasplantados en comparación con la población estándar. La sociabilidad (p=.024) fue significativamente mayor en pacientes trasplantados. En el análisis de regresión, las bajas puntuaciones en Neuroticismo-Ansiedad (p=.005) y Actividad (p=.001) fueron predictores significativos para caracterizar los rasgos de personalidad de pacientes trasplantados. Conclusiones: desde el AFFM, los pacientes con trasplante renal muestran un perfil diferente de personalidad comparado con la población estándar, con bajas puntuaciones en las dimensiones de Neuroticismo-Ansiedad y Actividad

BSSRDF estimation from single images

We present a novel method to estimate an approximation of the reflectance characteristics of optically thick, homogeneous translucent materials using only a single photograph as input. First, we approximate the diffusion profile as a linear combination of piecewise constant functions, an approach that enables a linear system minimization and maximizes robustness in the presence of suboptimal input data inferred from the image. We then fit to a smoother monotonically decreasing model, ensuring continuity on its first derivative. We show the feasibility of our approach and validate it in controlled environments, comparing well against physical measurements from previous works. Next, we explore the performance of our method in uncontrolled scenarios, where neither lighting nor geometry are known. We show that these can be roughly approximated from the corresponding image by making two simple assumptions: that the object is lit by a distant light source and that it is globally convex, allowing us to capture the visual appearance of the photographed material. Compared with previous works, our technique offers an attractive balance between visual accuracy and ease of use, allowing its use in a wide range of scenarios including off-the-shelf, single images, thus extending the current repertoire of real-world data acquisition techniques

Exome Array Analysis of Susceptibility to Pneumococcal Meningitis

Host genetic variability may contribute to susceptibility of bacterial meningitis, but which genes contribute to the susceptibility to this complex disease remains undefined. We performed a genetic association study in 469 community-acquired pneumococcal meningitis cases and 2072 population-based controls from the Utrecht Health Project in order to find genetic variants associated with pneumococcal meningitis susceptibility. A HumanExome BeadChip was used to genotype 102,097 SNPs in the collected DNA samples. Associations were tested with the Fisher exact test. None of the genetic variants tested reached Bonferroni corrected significance (p-value <5 × 10−7). Our strongest signals associated with susceptibility to pneumococcal meningitis were rs139064549 on chromosome 1 in the COL11A1 gene (p = 1.51 × 10−6; G allele OR 3.21 [95% CI 2.05–5.02]) and rs9309464 in the EXOC6B gene on chromosome 2 (p = 6.01 × 10−5; G allele OR 0.66 [95% CI 0.54–0.81]). The sequence kernel association test (SKAT) tests for associations between multiple variants in a gene region and pneumococcal meningitis susceptibility yielded one significant associated gene namely COL11A1 (p = 1.03 × 10−7). Replication studies are needed to validate these results. If replicated, the functionality of these genetic variations should be further studied to identify by which means they influence the pathophysiology of pneumococcal meningitis

Transcriptome and proteome response of Rhipicephalus annulatus tick vector to Babesia bigemina infection

Funding Information: RHIBAB - PTDC/CVT/112050/2009 “Differential expression and functional characterization of tick (Rhipicephalus annulatus) genes in response to pathogen infection (B. bigemina).” SA is the recipient of a post-doctoral grant supported by FCT Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for funds to GHTM – UID/Multi/04413/2013. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2019 Antunes, Couto, Ferrolho, Sanches, Merino Charrez, De la Cruz Hernández, Mazuz, Villar, Shkap, de la Fuente and Domingos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.A system biology approach was used to gain insight into tick biology and interactions between vector and pathogen. Rhipicephalus annulatus is one of the main vectors of Babesia bigemina which has a massive impact on animal health. It is vital to obtain more information about this relationship, to better understand tick and pathogen biology, pathogen transmission dynamics, and new potential control approaches. In ticks, salivary glands (SGs) play a key role during pathogen infection and transmission. RNA sequencing obtained from uninfected and B. bigemina infected SGs obtained from fed female ticks resulted in 6823 and 6475 unigenes, respectively. From these, 360 unigenes were found to be differentially expressed (p < 0.05). Reversed phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry identified a total of 3679 tick proteins. Among them 406 were differently represented in response to Babesia infection. The omics data obtained suggested that Babesia infection lead to a reduction in the levels of mRNA and proteins (n = 237 transcripts, n = 212 proteins) when compared to uninfected controls. Integrated transcriptomics and proteomics datasets suggested a key role for stress response and apoptosis pathways in response to infection. Thus, six genes coding for GP80, death-associated protein kinase (DAPK-1), bax inhibitor-1 related (BI-1), heat shock protein (HSP), heat shock transcription factor (PHSTF), and queuine trna-ribosyltransferase (QtRibosyl) were selected and RNA interference (RNAi) performed. Gene silencing was obtained for all genes except phstf. Knockdown of gp80, dapk-1, and bi-1 led to a significant increase in Babesia infection levels while hsp and QtRibosyl knockdown resulted in a non-significant decrease of infection levels when compared to the respective controls. Gene knockdown did not affect tick survival, but engorged female weight and egg production were affected in the gp80, dapk-1, and QtRibosyl-silenced groups in comparison to controls. These results advanced our understanding of tick-Babesia molecular interactions, and suggested new tick antigens as putative targets for vaccination to control tick infestations and pathogen infection/transmission.publishersversionpublishe