The CVAE is one of the most widely-used models in trajectory prediction for AD. It captures the interplay between a driving context and its ground-truth future into a probabilistic latent space and uses it to produce predictions. In this paper, we challenge key components of the CVAE. We leverage recent advances in the space of the VAE, the foundation of the CVAE, which show that a simple change in the sampling procedure can greatly benefit performance. We find that unscented sampling, which draws samples from any learned distribution in a deterministic manner, can naturally be better suited to trajectory prediction than potentially dangerous random sampling. We go further and offer additional improvements including a more structured Gaussian mixture latent space, as well as a novel, potentially more expressive way to do inference with CVAEs. We show wide applicability of our models by evaluating them on the INTERACTION prediction dataset, outperforming the state of the art, as well as at the task of image modeling on the CelebA dataset, outperforming the baseline vanilla CVAE. Code is available at https://github.com/boschresearch/cuae-prediction.

The Numerous papers have presented models for the mechanical reliability of optical fibres, or the lifetime of optical fibres, has been modelled in many works. Improvement of the mechanical and optical characteristics of standard single-mode fibres requires new tests and analyses. This paper provides an overview of scientific research into the mechanical reliability of optical fibres by some of the largest manufacturers. The investigation of the mechanical reliability and state of optical fibres after 20 years of real usage is the contribution of the paper, which concludes on its own. The contribution of the work is also in the analysis of the conditions under which optical cables - fibers were used. A prediction of the parameters limiting the lifetime of optical fibres was made based on the analyses that were conducted.

This article introduces a method for detecting liquids over long distances that is based on measuring the difference in the detected reflected power from the end of a conventional single-mode fiber in different mediums. The power of reflected light is affected by the medium outside the fiber, as well as the maximum distance between the sensor end and the detector. The proposed approach was tested on a length of 3.01 km. An investigation of the greatest distance with commercially available laser diodes (MQW - DFB) and a PIN diode is provided; remote measurements at distances more than 34 km are theoretically possible in ideal conditions. We found that the usage of reflecting connectors is the primary constraint in obtaining theoretically calculated distances.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication technique which uses quantum mechanics to protect communications. To overcome large distances, it requires the use of quantum repeaters, which are still challenging nevertheless feasible, or Twin-Field-QKD (TF-QKD) technology, which has been demonstrated several years ago. As it develops and matures, quantum technology is expected to play an increasingly major role in networks. Satellite QKD enables secure communication between devices via both satellites and ground stations. The study explores the transmission of quantum encryption technology in space and presents an overview of cubesats and satellites that currently use quantum key distribution (QKD) technology.

This paper discusses a low-voltage ride-through (LVRT) method for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems that serve as an interconnector between the main onshore ac grid and an islanded offshore ac load. When a line-to-ground fault occurs in the onshore ac grid, a voltage sag will be applied to the HVDC transmission system. This sag will cause fluctuations of the dc voltage, which will cause a shutdown of the entire HVDC system. The proposed LVRT method stabilizes the dc voltage of the HVDC transmission line by reducing the amplitude of the voltage of the offshore ac grid, which is kept constant during normal operation. The proposed method allows the HVDC system to remain connected during voltage sags in the onshore ac grid and enables faster transmission recovery after fault clearance. The validity of the proposed LVRT method is verified by simulations.

The current stage of the country development is characterized by increasing the role of universities not only in the educational and public space of the country, but also in the socio-economic advancement of cities and regions. Universities forming the educational potential of the cities are flagships of their technological transformation, form the city brand, increase their sustainability, lifeabitity and competitiveness. The aim of the study is the typologization of cities – university centers of Russia, carried out with the help of a comprehensive index of educational potential developed by the authors. The statistical base for assessing the educational potential of cities was the data of the Monitoring of the effectiveness of the educational institutions of higher education in 2022, university rankings of the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (integral QS ranking and 5 integrated areas of study), RA-Expert (integrated and individual in 29 areas of study), the Three Missions of the University rating, and the University Reputation Ranking.The study was carried in 3 stages, each of them involved special methodological approaches. At the first stage, there was a review of existing theoretical and practical research on the subject, the integrated index of the educational potential of university centers was developed. At the second stage of the study on the bases of this index a typology of university centers of the Russian Federation was carried out. At the third stage, there was a comparation of the previous results with their positions in the Sustainable Urban Development Index and realization of creative potential. The implementation of educational potential of the most sustainable competitive university centers was separately analyzed in the context of the strategy of internationalization and export of education.National project “Science and Universities” aimed at formation of 100 universities as centers of scientific, technological and socio-economic development by 2030, as well as the program for the construction of 25 world-level modern campuses increase attention to cities as centers of localization of higher education, their educational potential, and, ultimately, their competitiveness.The scientific importance of the research is the development of methodological approaches to assessing the educational potential of cities – university centers and its testing on the example of 1208 universities located in 306 cities of 84 regions of Russia. As a result, a typology of Russian university centers was carried out according to the level of educational potential: 6 types of cities were identified, differing in the city-forming role of higher educational institutions, their role in brand formation and the competitiveness of the city.The typology makes it possible to assess the educational potential of university centers in Russia to form effective strategies for their development in the context of the realizing the national development goals of Russia.

Abstract Background The European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (ESPRAS) comprises 40 national societies across Europe. In addition to ESPRAS, there are 8 different European Plastic Surgery societies representing Plastic Surgeons in Europe. The 4 th European Leadership Forum (ELF) of ESPRAS, held under the motto “Stronger together in Europe” in Munich in 2023, aimed to collect and disseminate information regarding the national member societies of ESPRAS and European societies for Plastic Surgeons. The purpose was to identify synergies and redundancies and promote improved cooperation and exchange to enhance coordinated decision-making at the European level. Material and methods An online survey was conducted regarding the organisational structures, objectives and challenges of national and European societies for Plastic Surgeons in Europe. This survey was distributed to official representatives (Presidents, Vice Presidents and General Secretaries) and delegates of national and European societies at the ELF meeting. Missing information was completed using data obtained from the official websites of the respective European societies. Preliminary results were discussed during the 4 th ELF meeting in Munich in March 2023. Results The ESPRAS survey included 22 national and 9 European Plastic Surgery societies representing more than 7000 Plastic Surgeons in Europe. Most national societies consist of less than 500 full members (median 182 members (interquartile range (IQR) 54–400); n=22). European societies, which covered the full spectrum or subspecialities, differed in membership types and congress cycles, with some requiring applications by individuals and others including national societies. The main purposes of the societies include research, representation against other disciplines, specialisation and education as well as more individual goals like patient care and policy regulation. Conclusion This ESPRAS survey offers key insights into the structures, requirements and challenges of national and European societies for Plastic Surgeons, highlighting the relevance of ongoing close exchange between the societies to foster professional advancement and reduce redundancies. Future efforts of the ELF will continue to further explore strategies for enhancing collaboration and harmonisation within the European Plastic Surgery landscape.

The influence of process parameters in the three-stage purification of aluminate solution from the Bayer process and aluminum hydroxide was considered in this paper. One of the ways of purification is treating the aluminate solution in order to reduce the concentrations in the starting raw material (solution) and then treating the aluminum hydroxide at a certain temperature and time in order to obtain an alumina precursor of adequate quality. The purification process itself is divided into three phases. The first phase involves the treatment of sodium aluminate with lime in order to primarily remove Ca2+ and (SiO3)2− impurities. Phase II aims to remove impurities of Zn2+, Fe2+, and Cu2+ by treatment with controlled precipitation using specially prepared crystallization centers. In Phase III, Na+ is removed by the process of hydrothermal washing of Al2O3 ∙ 3H2O. In this work, parameters such as temperature (T), reaction time (t), and concentration of lime (c) were studied in order to remove the mentioned impurities and obtain the purest possible product that would be an adequate precursor for special types of alumina.

Mycotoxins present a significant health concern within the animal-feed industry, with profound implications for the pig-farming sector. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of two commercial adsorbents, an organically modified clinoptilolite (OMC) and a multicomponent mycotoxin detoxifying agent (MMDA), to ameliorate the combined adverse effects of dietary aflatoxins (AFs: sum of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2), fumonisins (FBs), and zearalenone (ZEN) at levels of nearly 0.5, 1.0, and 1.0 mg/kg, on a cohort of cross-bred female pigs (N = 24). Pigs were randomly allocated into six experimental groups (control, mycotoxins (MTX) alone, MTX + OMC 1.5 kg/ton, MTX + OMC 3.0 kg/ton, MTX + MMDA 1.5 kg/ton, and MTX + MMDA 3.0 kg/ton), each consisting of four individuals, and subjected to a dietary regimen spanning 42 days. The administration of combined AFs, FBs, and ZEN reduced the body-weight gain and increased the relative weight of the liver, while there was no negative influence observed on the serum biochemistry of animals. The supplementation of OMC and MMDA ameliorated the toxic effects, as observed in organ histology, and provided a notable reduction in residual AFs, FBs, and ZEN levels in the liver and kidneys. Moreover, the OMC supplementation was able to reduce the initiation of liver carcinogenesis without any hepatotoxic side effects. These findings demonstrate that the use of OMC and MMDA effectively mitigated the adverse effects of dietary AFs, FBs, and ZEN in piglets. Further studies should explore the long-term protective effects of the studied adsorbent supplementation to optimize mycotoxin management strategies in pig-farming operations.

This research delves into the intricate dynamics of travelers’ decision-making processes, particularly their response to the media’s portrayal of environmental risks and the subsequent redirection of their travel choices toward medical destinations (MD). Employing a sophisticated research approach combining path analysis with moderation and multilinear logistic regression models, this study investigates the nuanced factors underlying travelers’ resilience to environmental risks and their propensity to opt for medical destinations. The results of the path analysis reveal a complex network of direct influences of factors from the PPM model (push, pull, and mooring) on choosing a medical destination in the sense that, before moderation, the only significant direct effect on the intention to choose medical destination (MD) was the pull factors. Through moderation, a significant effect of all three factors was achieved, while the direction of influence was changed in the case of push and pull factors. Furthermore, the multinomial logistic regression showed that the respondents prefer to go to a medical destination rather than a rural or urban one after the media emphasis on environmental risks. By integrating these analytical approaches and models, this research advances our understanding of how travelers navigate their choices amid environmental uncertainty. Furthermore, this research sheds light on the pivotal role that these traveler choices play in shaping the sustainability of medical destinations, offering essential insights for stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers navigating the evolving landscape of these destinations.

A common way of exposing functionality in contemporary systems is by providing a Web-API based on the REST API architectural guidelines. To describe REST APIs, the industry standard is currently OpenAPI-specifications. Test generation and fuzzing methods targeting OpenAPI-described REST APIs have been a very active research area in recent years. An open research challenge is to aid users in better understanding their API, in addition to finding faults and to cover all the code. In this paper, we address this challenge by proposing a set of behavioural properties, common to REST APIs, which are used to generate examples of behaviours that these APIs exhibit. These examples can be used both (i) to further the understanding of the API and (ii) as a source of automatic test cases. Our evaluation shows that our approach can generate examples deemed relevant for understanding the system and for a source of test generation by practitioners. In addition, we show that basing test generation on behavioural properties provides tests that are less dependent on the state of the system, while at the same time yielding a similar code coverage as state-of-the-art methods in REST API fuzzing in a given time limit.

Background Mammogram risk scores based on texture and density defined by different brightness thresholds are associated with breast cancer risk differently and could reveal distinct information about breast cancer risk. We aimed to investigate causal relationships between these intercorrelated mammogram risk scores to determine their relevance to breast cancer aetiology. Methods We used digitised mammograms for 371 monozygotic twin pairs, aged 40–70 years without a prior diagnosis of breast cancer at the time of mammography, from the Australian Mammographic Density Twins and Sisters Study. We generated normalised, age-adjusted, and standardised risk scores based on textures using the Cirrus algorithm and on three spatially independent dense areas defined by increasing brightness threshold: light areas, bright areas, and brightest areas. Causal inference was made using the Inference about Causation from Examination of FAmilial CONfounding (ICE FALCON) method. Results The mammogram risk scores were correlated within twin pairs and with each other ( r  = 0.22–0.81; all P  < 0.005). We estimated that 28–92% of the associations between the risk scores could be attributed to causal relationships between the scores, with the rest attributed to familial confounders shared by the scores. There was consistent evidence for positive causal effects: of Cirrus, light areas, and bright areas on the brightest areas (accounting for 34%, 55%, and 85% of the associations, respectively); and of light areas and bright areas on Cirrus (accounting for 37% and 28%, respectively). Conclusions In a mammogram, the lighter (less dense) areas have a causal effect on the brightest (highly dense) areas, including through a causal pathway via textural features. These causal relationships help us gain insight into the relative aetiological importance of different mammographic features in breast cancer. For example our findings are consistent with the brightest areas being more aetiologically important than lighter areas for screen-detected breast cancer; conversely, light areas being more aetiologically important for interval breast cancer. Additionally, specific textural features capture aetiologically independent breast cancer risk information from dense areas. These findings highlight the utility of ICE FALCON and family data in decomposing the associations between intercorrelated disease biomarkers into distinct biological pathways.

The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) is a useful tool for measuring the severity of psychopathological symptoms among patients with psychosis. Many studies, predominantly in Western countries, have investigated its factor structure. This study has the following aims: (a) to further explore the factor structure of the BPRS-Expanded version (BPRS-E, 24 items) among outpatients with psychotic disorders in Southeast European countries; (b) to confirm the identified model; and (c) to investigate the goodness-of-fit of the three competing BPRS-E factor models derived from previous studies. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) produced a solution with 21 items grouped into five factors, thus supporting the existence of a fifth factor, i.e., Disorganization. A follow-up confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed a 19-item model (with two items removed) that fit the data well. In addition, the stability of two out of three competing factor models was confirmed. Finally, the BPRS-E model with 5 factors developed in this cross-national study was found to include a greater number of items compared to competing models.

In memristors and resistance switching devices, there is a region prior to switching which exhibits current transients with potentially useful dynamics. We refer to this region as the subthreshold region owing to it occurring prior to any switching threshold. These transients exhibit a characteristic peaked response with a fast rise in current followed by a slower decay. This behaviour has previously been used to quantify the mobilities of defects drifting within the active layer of the devices, but it has also been used in neuromorphic circuits to carry out edge detection, to implement homeostasis within artificial synapses and could have uses in replicating eligibility traces. We present an empirical SPICE model to reproduce these transients within circuit simulators. The model is compared with experimental datasets for a range of applied voltages and we present experimentally verified parameters for readers to use within their own simulations.