An Advertising Real-Time Intelligent and Scalable Framework for Profiling Customers Emotions

The advertising industry is continuously looking up for effective ways to communicate to customers to impact their purchasing. Usually, profiling them is a time-consuming offline activity. Therefore, it becomes necessary to reduce costs and time to address consumers’ needs. This work proposes a scalable framework enabled by a Machine Learning (ML) model to profile customers to identify their emotions to help to drive campaigns. A multi-platform mobile application continuously profiles consumers crossing the front stores. Profiling customers according to their age and hair color, the color of their eyes, and emotions (e.g. happiness, sadness, disgust, fear) will help companies to make the most suitable advertisement (e.g. to predict whether the advertising tones on the front store are the adequate ones). All that data are made available in web portal dashboards, wherein subscribers can take their analysis. Such results from the analysis data help them to identify tendencies regarding the culture and age, and drive companies to fit front stores accordingly (e.g. to discover the right tones for the season). This framework can help to develop new innovative cost-effective business models at scale by driving in real-time the advertisements to a huge number of consumers to maximize their impact and centralizing the data collected from a large number of stores to design future campaigns.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of speckle denoising filters for digital holography using subjective and objective evaluation models

Digital holography is an emerging imaging technique for displaying and sensing three dimensional objects. The perceived image quality of a hologram is frequently corrupted by speckle noise due to coherent illumination. Although several speckle noise reduction methods have been developed so far, there are scarce quality assessment studies to address their performance and they typically focus solely on objective metrics. However, these metrics do not reflect the visual quality perceived by a human observer. In this work, the performance of four speckle reduction algorithms, namely the nonlocal means, the Lee, the Frost and the block matching 3D filters, with varying parameterizations, were subjectively evaluated. The results were ranked with respect to the perceived image quality to obtain the mean opinion scores using pairwise comparison. The correlation between the subjective results and twenty different no-reference objective quality metrics was evaluated. The experiment indicates that block matching 3D and Lee are the preferred filters, depending on hologram characteristics. The best performing objective metrics were identified for each filter.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Audiovisual Quality of Live Music Streaming over Mobile Networks using MPEG-DASH

The MPEG-DASH protocol has been rapidly adopted by most major network content providers and enables clients to make informed decisions in the context of HTTP streaming, based on network and device conditions using the available media representations. A review of the literature on adaptive streaming over mobile shows that most emphasis has been on adapting the video quality whereas this work examines the trade-off between video and audio quality. In particular, subjective tests were undertaken for live music streaming over emulated mobile networks with MPEG-DASH. A group of audio/video sequences was designed to emulate varying bandwidth arising from network congestion, with varying trade-off between audio and video bit rates. Absolute Category Rating was used to evaluate the relative impact of both audio and video quality in the overall Quality of Experience (QoE). One key finding from the statistical analysis of Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) results using Analysis of Variance indicates that providing reduced audio quality has a much lower impact on QoE than reducing video quality at similar total bandwidth situations. This paper also describes an objective model for audiovisual quality estimation that combines the outcomes from audio and video metrics into a joint parametric model. The correlation between predicted and subjective MOS was computed using several outcomes (Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and epsilon-insensitive RMSE). The obtained results indicate that the proposed approach is a viable solution for objective audiovisual quality assessment in the context of live music streaming over mobile network.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Funzione peso per una fessura laterale inclinata e deflessa

In questo lavoro viene presentato un metodo per determinare i fattori di intensità degli sforzi (stress intensity factors SIF) per una fessura di bordo inclinata e deflessa in un semipiano. Il problema è stato affrontato mediante un’analisi parametrica ad elementi finiti che ha permesso di studiare l’influenza dei principali parametri che governano il problema: l’angolo d’inclinazione iniziale, l’angolo di deflessione del segmento terminale della fessura ed il rapporto tra le lunghezze dei due segmenti di fessura. Sulla base dei risultati numerici è stata definita una Funzione Peso (Weight Function WF) con struttura matriciale, estendendo una tecnica mista analitico-numerica già sviluppata per lo studio di fessure di bordo inclinate. La correttezza della WF è stata verificata mediante confronto con i risultati numerici ottenuti per condizioni di carico indipendenti. La WF può essere usata per calcolare i SIF per fessure aventi inclinazione iniziale compresa tra 0° e 60 °, angolo di deflessione rispetto al segmento iniziale tra -90° e + 90° e rapporto di lunghezza tra i segmenti iniziale e terminale compreso tra 0.005 e 0.1

Holographic representation: Hologram plane vs. object plane

Digital holography allows the recording, storage and subsequent reconstruction of both amplitude and phase of the light field scattered by an object. This is accomplished by recording interference patterns that preserve the properties of the original object field essential for 3D visualization, the so-called holograms. Digital holography refers to the acquisition of holograms with a digital sensor, typically a CCD or a CMOS camera, and to the reconstruction of the 3D object field using numerical methods. In the current work, the different representations of digital holographic information in the hologram and in the object planes are studied. The coding performance of the different complex field representations, notably Amplitude-Phase and Real-Imaginary, in both the hologram plane and the object plane, is assessed using both computer generated and experimental holograms. The HEVC intra main coding profile is used for the compression of the different representations in both planes, either for experimental holograms or computer generated holograms. The HEVC intra compression in the object plane outperforms encoding in the hologram plane. Furthermore, encoding computer generated holograms in the object plane has a larger benefit than the same encoding over the experimental holograms. This difference was expected, since experimental holograms are affected by a larger negative influence of speckle noise, resulting in a loss of compression efficiency. This work emphasizes the possibility of holographic coding on the object plane, instead of the common encoding in the hologram plane approach. Moreover, this possibility allows direct visualization of the Object Plane Amplitude in a regular 2D display without any transformation methods. The complementary phase information can easily be used to render 3D features such as depth map, multi-view or even holographic interference patterns for further 3D visualization depending on the display technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Acupuncture at “Zusanli” (St.36) and “Sanyinjiao” (SP.6) Points on the Gastrointestinal Tract: A Study of the Bioavailability of 99mTc-Sodium Pertechnetate in Rats

The objective of this study is to investigate the differences of acupuncture effect between the Zusanli (St.36) and Sanyinjiao (SP.6) points on the gastrointestinal-tract (GIT) segment performed by the bioavailability of 99mTc-sodium-pertechnetate (Na99mTcO4) in rats. Male Wistar rats (n = 21) were allocated into three groups of seven each. Group 1 was treated by acupuncture bilaterally at St.36; Group 2 at SP.6; and Group 3 was untreated (control). After 10 min of needle insertion in anesthetized rats, 0.3 mL of Na99mTcO4 (7.4 MBq) was injected via ocular-plexus. After 20 min, the exitus of animals was induced by cervical-dislocation and GIT organs isolated. However, immediately before the exitus procedure, blood was collected by cardiac-puncture for blood radio-labeling (BRL). The radioactivity uptake of the blood constituents was calculated together with the GIT organs by a well gamma counter. The percentage of injected dose per gram of tissue (%ID/g) of Na99mTcO4 was calculated for each GIT organs, while BRL was calculated in %ID. According to the one-way ANOVA, the stomach, jejunum, ileum from the treated groups (Group 1 and Group 2) had significant differences compared to the controls (Group 3). However, between the treated groups (Group 1 and Group 2), there were significant differences (P < .05) in the stomach, jejunum, ileum, cecum, transverse and rectum. In BRL analysis, Group 2 showed significant increase and decrease of the insoluble and soluble fractions of the blood cells, respectively (P < .0001). The authors suggest that St.36 may have a tendency of up-regulation effect on GIT, whereas SP.6, down-regulation effect. However, further rigorous experimental studies to examine the effectiveness of acupuncture in either acupuncture points need to be carried out

Point Cloud Subjective Evaluation Methodology based on 2D Rendering

Point clouds are one of the most promising technologies for 3D content representation. In this paper, we describe a study on quality assessment of point clouds, degraded by octree-based compression on different levels. The test contents were displayed using Screened Poisson surface reconstruction, without including any textural information, and they were rated by subjects in a passive way, using a 2D image sequence. Subjective evaluations were performed in five independent laboratories in different countries, with the inter-laboratory correlation analysis showing no statistical differences, despite the different equipment employed. Benchmarking results reveal that the state-of-the-art point cloud objective metrics are not able to accurately predict the expected visual quality of such test contents. Moreover, the subjective scores collected from this experiment were found to be poorly correlated with subjective scores obtained from another test involving visualization of raw point clouds. These results suggest the need for further investigations on adequate point cloud representations and objective quality assessment tools

Evaluation of polygenic risk scores for breast and ovarian cancer risk prediction in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 94 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer (BC) risk and 18 associated with ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Several of these are also associated with risk of BC or OC for women who carry a pathogenic mutation in the high-risk BC and OC genes BRCA1 or BRCA2. The combined effects of these variants on BC or OC risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have not yet been assessed while their clinical management could benefit from improved personalized risk estimates. Methods: We constructed polygenic risk scores (PRS) using BC and OC susceptibility SNPs identified through population-based GWAS: for BC (overall, estrogen receptor [ER]-positive, and ER-negative) and for OC. Using data from 15 252 female BRCA1 and 8211 BRCA2 carriers, the association of each PRS with BC or OC risk was evaluated using a weighted cohort approach, with time to diagnosis as the outcome and estimation of the hazard ratios (HRs) per standard deviation increase in the PRS. Results: The PRS for ER-negative BC displayed the strongest association with BC risk in BRCA1 carriers (HR = 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23 to 1.31, P = 8.2 x 10(53)). In BRCA2 carriers, the strongest association with BC risk was seen for the overall BC PRS (HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.28, P = 7.2 x 10(-20)). The OC PRS was strongly associated with OC risk for both BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. These translate to differences in absolute risks (more than 10% in each case) between the top and bottom deciles of the PRS distribution; for example, the OC risk was 6% by age 80 years for BRCA2 carriers at the 10th percentile of the OC PRS compared with 19% risk for those at the 90th percentile of PRS. Conclusions: BC and OC PRS are predictive of cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. Incorporation of the PRS into risk prediction models has promise to better inform decisions on cancer risk management

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London