Operation of Public Transportation Ticket Vending Machine in Kraków, Poland: An Eye Tracking Study

Whereas the majority of evaluations of self-service kiosks are based on interviews or observations and as such are burdened with personal bias, eye tracking was seen as a method for an objective analysis. To demonstrate the feasibility and usability of such an assessment technique, the task of purchasing a public transportation ticket from a modern ticket vending machine in Kraków, Poland was evaluated. The test participants relatively easily operated the machine with time taken to purchase a ticket ranging from 54 s for foreigners not familiar with the equipment to 29 s for local inhabitants. Even though the number of gazes recorded for the foreigners group was 2.4 times higher than for the local test participants, the fixation times were almost equal. Faulty or delayed operation of the payment terminal was a meaningful equipment issue encountered by eight test participants. The study demonstrated that the operation of the analysed ticket vending machine should not cause much trouble to anyone. The use of an eye tracker, which was employed for such an assessment for the first time, permitted the identification of possible operational ambiguities that could hinder the user experience without the bias associated with other assessment techniques. The used method was found to be efficient and the results provided valuable information.

Olaparib sensitivity observed in metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPaC) with a wide spectrum of germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations (gBRCAm).

420 Background: The POLO study (NCT02184195) showed that mPaC patients (pts) with a deleterious or suspected deleterious gBRCAm, and whose disease had not progressed during ≥16 weeks of first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, had significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS, primary endpoint) with maintenance olaparib vs placebo: median 7.4 vs 3.8 months, hazard ratio (HR) 0.53; P= 0.004. PFS benefit was observed in pts with g BRCA1m (HR 0.40) and g BRCA2m (HR 0.63). The POLO study represents the largest BRCAm prevalence study in pancreatic cancer . We report additional exploratory analysis to further characterize patient gBRCAm profiles, including the relationship with efficacy. Methods: Pts were enrolled based on either a previously identified gBRCAm status from a local test result and subsequently confirmed by central testing, or a prospectively identified gBRCAm. Pts received maintenance olaparib 300 mg twice daily (tablet) or placebo. PFS was assessed by blinded independent central review (modified RECIST v1.1). Results: Of 3194 prospectively screened pts, a valid BRCA test result was obtained for 3175 (99%) from 12 countries; gBRCAm prevalence was 6.2% in pts not previously known to harbor a gBRCAm (196/3175; 1.6% g BRCA1m, 4.5% g BRCA2m). In countries (n = 8) with > 100 pts prospectively tested, highest gBRCAm prevalence was 9.2% (USA) and lowest 4.0% (Spain). Prevalence by race ( > 100 pts); 6.4% Caucasian, 4.6% Asian. In total, 154 pts with a gBRCAm satisfied all eligibility criteria and were randomized (106 prospectively tested and 48 by local test [44/48 subsequently confirmed by Myriad testing]). 37/154 (24%) randomized pts carried a common Ashkenazi Jewish founder mutation, the majority being from Israel (21 pts). From a total of 151 variants, frameshift mutations were most frequent (g BRCA1m 69.6%, g BRCA2m 71.4%) followed by nonsense mutations (g BRCA1m 6.5%, g BRCA2m 17.1%). The efficacy (PFS) of olaparib vs placebo in the different subgroups are shown in the table. Conclusions: In pts with mPaC enrolled in POLO, g BRCA2m were more prevalent than g BRCA1m and mutation type was predominantly frameshift. PFS benefit was consistent across a heterogenous spectrum of gBRCAm and with the previously reported full analysis set. Clinical trial information: NCT02184195. [Table: see text]

A Synchronized Test Control Execution Model of Distributed Systems

Conformance testing may be seen as mean to execute an IUT (implementation under test) by carrying out test cases in order to observe whether the behavior of the IUT is conforming to its specifications. However, the development of distributed testing frameworks is more complex and the implementation of the parallel testing components (PTCs) should take into consideration the mechanisms and functions required to support interaction during PTC communication. In this article, the authors present another way to control the test execution of PTCs by introducing synchronization messages into the local test sequences. Then, they suggest an agent-based simulation to implement synchronized local test sequences and resolve the problem of control and synchronization.

Al-Nahda’s Local Test

After some 10 years in power and more than two years in control of several municipalities, the previously banned Tunisian Islamist party al-Nahda has had a unique trajectory as a Sunni Islamic political movement in the wake of the Arab uprisings. This chapter examines that trajectory from a local perspective, focused on two popular districts of Greater Tunis, al-Tadamun and Douar Hisher, historic strongholds of al-Nahda. The aim is to understand the mutations through which this central actor has passed in Tunisia, examining the evolution of its social action and its political legitimization repertoire. The chapter outlines the tensions marking its institutionalization in terms of generational dislocation and the alienation of its popular base. In doing so, it traces the recomposition of local power and its underlying arrangements in relegated urban margins 10 years after the fall of Ben Ali’s authoritarian regime.

Analysis of Fragmentation of Rock Blocks from Real-Scale Tests

Real-scale fragmentation tests provide high quality data in order to study the fragmentation pattern of rock blocks. In the tests carried out, the initial rock mass, in terms of both volume and shape, was reconstructed by means of 3D photogrammetry. The fragments size distribution of the bocks tested was measured by hand using a tape. The drop tests were performed in four different sites, releasing a total of 124 blocks and measuring 2907 fragments. The obtained fragment size distributions may be well fitted using power laws. The survival rate (Sr), which is the proportion of remaining block shows a wide range of values. Observing the fragment distribution, two parameters are needed to characterize the fragmentation: the number of fragments produced and Sr. The intensity of the fragmentation is expressed by the exponent of the fitted power laws. Although the results are highly variable and show a stochastic behavior of the fragmentation, we have identified different patterns that reflect some local test conditions.

Estimation of the Transition Probabilities in Multi-state Survival Data: New Developments and Practical Recommendations

Multi-state models can be successfully used for describing complicated event history data, for example, describing stages in the disease progression of a patient. In these models one important goal is the estimation of the transition probabilities since they allow for long term prediction of the process. Traditionally these quantities have been estimated by the Aalen-Johansen estimator which is consistent if the process is Markovian. Recently, estimators have been proposed that outperform the Aalen-Johansen estimators in non-Markov situations. This paper considers a new proposal for the estimation of the transition probabilities in a multi-state system that is not necessarily Markovian. The proposed product-limit nonparametric estimator is defined in the form of a counting process, counting the number of transitions between states and the risk sets for leaving each state with an inverse probability of censoring weighted form. Advantages and limitations of the different methods and some practical recommendations are presented. We also introduce a graphical local test for the Markov assumption. Several simulation studies were conducted under different data scenarios. The proposed methods are illustrated with a real data set on colon cancer.

Associating the COVID-19 Severity with Urban Factors: A Case Study of Wuhan

Wuhan encountered a serious attack in the first round of the COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in serious worldwide consequences politically and economically. Based on the Weibo help data, we inferred the spatial distribution pattern of the epidemic situation and its impacts. Seven urban factors, i.e. urban growth, general hospital, commercial facilities, subway station, landuse mixture, aging ratio, and road density, were selected for validation with the ordinary linear model, and the former six presented globally significant association with the epidemic severity; thereafter, the geographically weighted regression model was further adopted for local test to identify their unevenly distributed effects in urban space. Among the six, the place where general hospitals exert effects on epidemic situation highly is associated with their distribution and density; commercial facilities appear the most prevalently distributed factor over the city; newly developed residential quarters with high-rise buildings face greater risks, mainly distributed around the waterfront area of Hanyang and Wuchang; the influence of subway stations concentrates at the adjacency place where the three towns meet and near-terminal locations; aging ratio dominantly affects the hinterland of Hankou in a broader extent than other areas in the city. Upon the result, a series of managerial implications that coordinate various urban factors have been proposed. This research is conductive to developing specific planning and design responses for different areas in the city based on a better understanding of the occurrence, transmission, and diffusion of the COVID-19 epidemic in the metropolitan area.

Olaparib sensitivity observed in metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPaC) with a wide spectrum of germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations (gBRCAm).

4621 Background: The POLO study (NCT02184195) showed that mPaC patients (pts) with a deleterious or suspected deleterious gBRCAm, and whose disease had not progressed during ≥16 weeks of first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, had significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS, primary endpoint) with maintenance olaparib vs placebo: median 7.4 vs 3.8 months, hazard ratio (HR) 0.53; P=0.004. PFS benefit was observed in pts with g BRCA1m (HR 0.40) and g BRCA2m (HR 0.63). The POLO study represents the largest BRCAm prevalence study in pancreatic cancer. We report additional exploratory analysis to further characterize patient gBRCAm profiles, including the relationship with efficacy. Methods: Pts were enrolled based on either a previously identified gBRCAm status from a local test result and subsequently confirmed by central testing, or a prospectively identified gBRCAm. Pts received maintenance olaparib 300 mg twice daily (tablet) or placebo. PFS was assessed by blinded independent central review (modified RECIST v1.1). Results: Of 3194 prospectively screened pts, a valid BRCA test result was obtained for 3175 (99%) from 12 countries; gBRCAm prevalence was 6.2% in pts not previously known to harbor a gBRCAm (196/3175; 1.6% g BRCA1m, 4.5% g BRCA2m). In countries (n=8) with >100 pts prospectively tested, highest gBRCAm prevalence was 9.2% (USA) and lowest 4.0% (Spain). Prevalence by race (>100 pts); 6.4% Caucasian, 4.6% Asian. In total, 154 pts with a gBRCAm satisfied all eligibility criteria and were randomized (106 prospectively tested and 48 by local test [44/48 subsequently confirmed by Myriad testing]). 37/154 (24%) randomized pts carried a common Ashkenazi Jewish founder mutation, the majority being from Israel (21 pts). From a total of 151 variants, frameshift mutations were most frequent (g BRCA1m 69.6%, g BRCA2m 71.4%) followed by nonsense mutations (g BRCA1m 6.5%, g BRCA2m 17.1%). The efficacy (PFS) of olaparib vs placebo in the different subgroups are shown in the table. Conclusions: In pts with mPaC enrolled in POLO, g BRCA2m were more prevalent than g BRCA1m and mutation type was predominantly frameshift. PFS benefit was consistent across a heterogenous spectrum of gBRCAm and with the previously reported full analysis set. Clinical trial information: NCT02184195 . [Table: see text]

Improved Fault Detection Method Based on Robust Estimation and Sliding Window Test for INS/GNSS Integration

Real-time and accurate fault detection and isolation is very important to ensure the reliability and precision of integrated inertial navigation and global navigation satellite systems. In this paper, the detection performance of a residual chi-square method is analysed, and on this basis an improved method of fault detection is proposed. The local test based on a standardised residual is introduced to detect and identify faulty measurements directly. Differing from the traditional method, two appropriate thresholds are selected to calculate the weight factor of each measurement, and the gain matrix is adjusted adaptively to reduce the influence of the undetected faulty measurement. The sliding window test, which uses past measurements, is also added to further improve the fault detection performance for small faults when the local test based on current measurements cannot judge whether a fault has occurred or not. Several simulations are conducted to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the improved method has better fault detection performance than the traditional detection method, especially for small faults, and can improve the reliability and precision of the navigation system effectively.