Scene Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network for Pedestrian Intention Estimation

For safe and comfortable navigation of autonomous vehicles, it is crucial to know the pedestrian's intention of crossing the street. Generally, human drivers are aware of the traffic objects (e.g., crosswalks and traffic lights) in the environment while driving; likewise, these objects would play a crucial role for autonomous vehicles. In this research, we propose a novel pedestrian intention estimation method that not only takes into account the influence of traffic objects but also learns their contribution levels on the intention of the pedestrian. Our proposed method, referred to as Scene SpatioTemporal Graph Convolutional Network (Scene-STGCN), takes benefits from the strength of Graph Convolutional Networks and efficiently encodes the relationships between the pedestrian and the scene objects both spatially and temporally. We conduct several experiments on the Pedestrian Intention Estimation (PIE) dataset and illustrate the importance of scene objects and their contribution levels in the task of pedestrian intention estimation. Furthermore, we perform statistical analysis on the relevance of different traffic objects in the PIE dataset and carry out an ablation study on the effect of various information sources in the scene. Finally, we demonstrate the significance of the proposed Scene-STGCN through experimental comparisons with several baselines. The results indicate that our proposed Scene-STGCN outperforms the current state-of-the-art method by 0.03 in terms of ROC-AUC metric

Orgasmic Dysfunction After Open Radical Prostatectomy: Clinical Correlates and Prognostic Factors

Introduction. Erectile function after radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) is extensively discussed in literature. However, less is known about orgasm after RRP. Aim. To analyze sexual function, in particularly orgasmic function, in men before and after RRP. Methods. Between 1977 and 2007 a RRP was performed in 1,021 men. All men were interviewed by their follow-up physician using a standardized interview about sexual function before and after RRP at regular intervals during a 2-year follow-up. The questions were related to sexual interest, sexual activity, spontaneous erections, and orgasmic function. Main Outcome Measures. Sexual function, in particularly orgasmic function, before and after RRP. Factors potentially influencing orgasmic function, such as patients age, type of operation, pathological stage and continence status were analyzed for their predictive value. Results. Information about preoperative and postoperative sexual activity and spontaneous erection was available in 596 and 698 men, respectively. Additional questions were asked on sexual interest (N = 425) and orgasmic function (N = 458). Pre-operatively, sexual interest, sexual activity, spontaneous erections and orgasmic function were normal in 99%, 82.1%, 90.0% and 90% of men, respectively. After operation these values decreased to 97.2%, 67.3%, 29.4% and 66.8%, respectively. Orgasmic function was preserved in 141 of 192 men (73.4%) after a bilateral nerve sparing procedure, in 90 out of 127 men (70.9%) after a unilateral nerve-sparing procedure and in 75 of 139 men (54.0%) after non-nerve sparing technique. Postoperatively, orgasm was present in 123 (77.4%) men below the age of 60 years and in 183 (61.2%) men of 60 years and older (P = 60 years, non-nerve sparing procedure and severe incontinence (more than two pads/day). Conclusions. After RRP, orgasmic function is still present in the majority of men. A non-nerve sparing operation, age, and severe urinary incontinence are risk factors for orgasmic dysfunction after RRP. Dubbelman Y, Wildhagen M, Schroder F, Bangma C, and Dohle G. Orgasmic dysfunction after open radical prostatectomy: Clinical correlates and prognostic factors. J Sex Med 2010;7:1216-1223