LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Excellent cross-cultural validity, intra-test reliability and construct validity of the Dutch Rivermead Mobility Index in patients after stroke undergoing rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the cross-cultural validity of international Dutch-English comparisons when using the Dutch Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), and the intra-test reliability and construct validity of the Dutch RMI.


METHODS
Cross-cultural validity was studied in a combined data-set of Dutch and English patients undergoing rehabilitation after stroke, who were assessed with the Dutch version of the RMI and the original English RMI, respectively. Mokken scale analysis was used to investigate unidimensionality, monotone homogeneity model fit, and differential item functioning between the Dutch and the English RMI. Intra-test reliability and construct validity were studied in the Dutch patients by calculating the reliability coefficient and correlating the Dutch RMI and the Dutch Barthel Index.


RESULTS
The RMI was completed for Dutch (n = 200) and English (n = 420) patients after stroke. The unidimensionality and monotone homogeneity model fit of the RMI were excellent: combined Dutch-English data-set (coefficient H = 0.91); Dutch data-set (coefficient H = 0.93); English data-set (coefficient H = 0.89). No differential item functioning was found between the Dutch and the English RMI. The intra-test reliability of the Dutch RMI was excellent (coefficient rho = 0.97). In a sub-sample of patients (n = 91), the Dutch RMI correlated strongly with the Dutch Barthel Index (Spearman's correlation coefficient rho = 0.84).


CONCLUSION
The Dutch RMI allows valid international Dutch-English comparisons, and has excellent intra-test reliability and construct validity.
Multipolar interband absorption in a semiconductor quantum dot. II. Magnetic dipole enhancement

We derive the magnetic dipole selection rules and the magnetic dipole absorption rate for a spherical semiconductor quantum dot. We find that electric dipole and magnetic dipole transitions are exclusive and therefore can be spectrally distinguished. The magnitudes of electric and magnetic absorption rates are compared for excitation with a strongly focused azimuthally polarized beam. It turns out that spatial optical resolution can be increased by detection of the ratio of magnetic and electric absorption rates. Resolution is limited only by the purity of the laser mode used for excitation. © 2002 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 160.4760, 160.6000, 300.6470.
Innovative developments in HCI and future trends

The recent developments in technology have made noteworthy positive impacts on the human computer interaction (HCI). It is now possible to interact with computers using voice commands, touchscreen, eye movement etc. This paper compiles some of the innovative HCI progresses in the modern desktop and mobile computing and identifies some future research directions.
[Durability of the effects of a quality improvement intervention in hypertensive patients on long-term follow-up (CICLO-RISK study)].

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the durability of the effects achieved with a quality improvement intervention on cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular risk, as intermediate outcomes, in hypertensive patients on long-term follow-up long time primary health care.


DESIGN
Quasi-experimental study.


SETTING
Two urban primary care health centres.


PARTICIPANTS
The study included 419 and 430 hypertensive patients in the intervention (IG) and control group (CG), respectively.


INTERVENTIONS
Quality improvement intervention consisted of a combined program including, an audit, feedback, training sessions on the main cardiovascular risk factors clinical guidelines.


MEASUREMENTS
Evaluation of intermediate outcomes (blood pressure, LDL-cholesterol, HbA(1c), smoking, BMI and cardiovascular risk), were measured in both groups in March 2002, 2004 and 2006.


RESULTS
The mean of the durability effect (differences between IG and CG means) was: systolic blood pressure decreased from 8.9 to 4.3 and the diastolic from 3.9 to 2.3 mmHg (p<0.05). LDL-cholesterol decreased from 10 to 1.1mg/dl (p>0.05). Coronary risk fell from 2 to 1.2 percentage points and cardiovascular mortality risk from 0.6 to 0.4 percentage points (p<0.05). The percentage of patients with blood pressure<140/90 mmHg and BMI<30 lost statistical significance in the end evaluation and only remains in the percentage of patients with coronary risk less than 20% in the 2004 and 2006 results.


CONCLUSIONS
Quality improvement intervention was associated with reductions in cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular risk in post intervention evaluations with a tendency to decrease the effect achieved in the end evaluation.
Incidence Theorems for Pseudoflats

AbstractWe prove Pach-Sharir type incidence theorems for a class of curves in Rn and surfaces in R3, which we call pseudoflats}. In particular, our results apply to a
wide class of generic irreducible real algebraic sets of bounded degree.
Multi-agent discrete-time graphical games and reinforcement learning solutions

This paper introduces a new class of multi-agent discrete-time dynamic games, known in the literature as dynamic graphical games. For that reason a local performance index is defined for each agent that depends only on the local information available to each agent. Nash equilibrium policies and best-response policies are given in terms of the solutions to the discrete-time coupled Hamilton–Jacobi equations. Since in these games the interactions between the agents are prescribed by a communication graph structure we have to introduce a new notion of Nash equilibrium. It is proved that this notion holds if all agents are in Nash equilibrium and the graph is strongly connected. A novel reinforcement learning value iteration algorithm is given to solve the dynamic graphical games in an online manner along with its proof of convergence. The policies of the agents form a Nash equilibrium when all the agents in the neighborhood update their policies, and a best response outcome when the agents in the neighborhood are kept constant. The paper brings together discrete Hamiltonian mechanics, distributed multi-agent control, optimal control theory, and game theory to formulate and solve thesemulti-agent dynamic graphical games. A simulation example shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach in a leader-synchronization case along with optimality guarantees. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Autonomous exoskeleton reduces metabolic cost of human walking during load carriage

Many soldiers are expected to carry heavy loads over extended distances, often resulting in physical and mental fatigue. In this study, the design and testing of an autonomous leg exoskeleton is presented. The aim of the device is to reduce the energetic cost of loaded walking. In addition, we present the Augmentation Factor, a general framework of exoskeletal performance that unifies our results with the varying abilities of previously developed exoskeletons. We developed an autonomous battery powered exoskeleton that is capable of providing substantial levels of positive mechanical power to the ankle during the push-off region of stance phase. We measured the metabolic energy consumption of seven subjects walking on a level treadmill at 1.5 m/s, while wearing a 23 kg vest. During the push-off portion of the stance phase, the exoskeleton applied positive mechanical power with an average across the gait cycle equal to 23 ± 2 W (11.5 W per ankle). Use of the autonomous leg exoskeleton significantly reduced the metabolic cost of walking by 36 ± 12 W, which was an improvement of 8 ± 3% (p = 0.025) relative to the control condition of not wearing the exoskeleton. In the design of leg exoskeletons, the results of this study highlight the importance of minimizing exoskeletal power dissipation and added limb mass, while providing substantial positive power during the walking gait cycle.
Considerations on distance relay setting for transmission line with STATCOM

The distance relay plays an important role in the protection for transmission lines and application of FACTS devices such as Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) would affect distance relay's performance because of the compensation effect. This paper presents the analytical and simulation results of the application of distance relay for the protection of transmission line containing STATCOM. A typical 500kV transmission system employing STATCOM is modeled using Matlab/Simulink and the impact of STATCOM on distance protection scheme is studied for different fault types, fault locations and system configurations. Based on these analytical and simulation results, the performance of distance relay are evaluated and new setting principle of the distance relay are proposed for the transmission line with STATCOM.
PROCRASTINATION, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, ANXIETY, AND GOALS: EXPLORING THE MEASUREMENT AND CORRELATES OF PROCRASTINATION AMONG SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

We explore the reliability and validity of a self-report measure of procrastination and conscientiousness designed for use with thirdto fifth-grade students. The responses of 120 students are compared with teacher and parent ratings of the student. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were also used to examine the structure of the scale. Procrastination and conscientiousness are highly correlated (inversely); evidence suggests that procrastination and conscientiousness are aspects of the same construct. Procrastination and conscientiousness are correlated with the Physiological Anxiety subscale of the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, and with the Task (Mastery) and Avoidance (Task Aversiveness) subscales of Skaalvik’s (1997) Goal Orientation Scales. Both theoretical implications and implications for interventions are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A novel pore extraction method for heterogeneous fingerprint images using Convolutional Neural Networks

Most fingerprint recognition systems use Level 1 characteristics (ridge flow, orientation, and frequency) and Level 2 features (minutiae points) to recognize individuals. Level 3 features (sweat pores, incipient ridges and ultra-thin characteristics of the ridges) are less frequently adopted because they can be extracted only from high resolution images, but they have the potential of improving all the steps of the biometric recognition process. In particular, sweat pores can be used for quality assessment, liveness detection, biometric matching in live applications, and matching of partial latent fingerprints in forensic applications. Currently, each type of fingerprint acquisition technique (touch-based, touchless, or latent) requires a different algorithm for pore extraction. In this paper, we propose the first method in the literature able to extract the coordinates of the pores from touch-based, touchless, and latent fingerprint images. Our method uses specifically designed and trained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to estimate and refine the centroid of each pore. Results show that our method is feasible and achieved satisfactory accuracy for all the types of evaluated images, with a better performance with respect to the compared state-of-the-art methods. c © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention

This study evaluates the horse (Equus caballus) use of human local enhancement cues and reaction to human attention when making feeding decisions. The superior performance of dogs in observing human states of attention suggests this ability evolved with domestication. However, some species show an improved ability to read human cues through socialization and training. We observed 60 horses approach a bucket with feed in a three-way object-choice task when confronted with (a) an unfamiliar or (b) a familiar person in 4 different situations: (1) squatting behind the bucket, facing the horse (2) standing behind the bucket, facing the horse (3) standing behind the bucket in a back-turned position, gazing away from the horse and (4) standing a few meters from the bucket in a distant, back-turned position, again gazing away from the horse. Additionally, postures 1 and 2 were tested both with the person looking permanently at the horse and with the person alternating their gaze between the horse and the bucket. When the person remained behind the correct bucket, it was chosen significantly above chance. However, when the test person was turned and distant from the buckets, the horses’ performance deteriorated. In the turned person situations, the horses approached a familiar person and walked towards their focus of attention significantly more often than with an unfamiliar person. Additionally, in the squatting and standing person situations, some horses approached the person before approaching the correct bucket. This happened more with a familiar person. We therefore conclude that horses can use humans as a local enhancement cue independently of their body posture or gaze consistency when the persons remain close to the food source and that horses seem to orientate on the attention of familiar more than of unfamiliar persons. We suggest that socialization and training improve the ability of horses to read human cues.
An SSR-based molecular genetic map of cassava

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSR) are the markers of choice for molecular genetic mapping and marker-assisted selection in many crop species. A microsatellite-based linkage map of cassava was drawn using SSR markers and a F2 population consisting of 268 individuals. The F2 population was derived from selfing the genotype K150, an early yielding genotype from an F1 progeny from a cross between two non-inbred elite cassava varieties, TMS 30572 and CM 2177-2 from IITA and CIAT respectively. A set of 472 SSR markers, previously developed from cassava genomic and cDNA libraries, were screened for polymorphism in K150 and its parents TMS 30572 and CM 2177-2. One hundred and twenty two polymorphic SSR markers were identified and utilized for linkage analysis. The map has 100 markers spanning 1236.7 cM, distributed on 22 linkage groups with an average marker distance of 17.92 cM. Marker density across the genome was uniform. This is the first SSR based linkage map of cassava and represents an important step towards quantitative trait loci mapping and genetic analysis of complex traits in M. esculenta species in national research program and other institutes with minimal laboratory facilities. SSR markers reduce the time and cost of mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling traits of agronomic interest, and are of potential use for marker-assisted selection (MAS).
Applications of Computational Morphology

Morphological information is useful for parsing, lemmatization, and in several natural language applications: text generation, machine translation, document retrieval, etc. In this paper, we shall be less concerned with what morphological processing systems are like (cf. Sproat 1992) than with the applications of computational morphology. We first present the kind of morphological information used by NLP (natural language processing) systems. That information is inflectional or derivational and may be encoded in lexical databases or retrieved dynamically through simple processing. The best known computational systems are presented, including some new methods to automatically acquire morphological information. Secondly, several technological applications using morphological information are described. In these sections, we have chosen to favor the description of some representative works in the corresponding fields, so as to illustrate how morphology is involved; we do not lay claim to exhaustiveness. This review aims at showing how truly useful morphology is for NLP systems.
Domain Adaptation in Sentiment Analysis of Twitter

• Sentiment Analysis (SA) requires large human labeled data; which is costly to obtain. • Domain Adaptation(DA) techniques help in performing SA with minimum human labeled data. • Two techniques, Feedback EM and Rocchio SVM are proposed for data selection/filtering. • Use of Mutual Information(MI) and Cosine Distance(CD) to measure similarity between In and Out-Domain distributions.
Ruptured silicone breast implant: a misleading chest X-ray.

CASE REPORT A 55 year old female was referred for investigation and possible surgery of a thyroid swelling. She had smoked 30 cigarettes per day for many years. Past medical history consisted of insertion of bilateral silicone breast implants 10 years previously. Clinical examination suggested a multinodular goitre and identified slight thickening superior to the left breast implant. Investigations revealed normal blood tests, and a multinodular goitre was confirmed on ultrasound scan. Routine chest X-ray (Fig. 1) identified an opacity in the left upper lobe showing features suggestive of a primary lung tumour. However, a lateral view failed to detect an abnormality in the thoracic cavity. CT scanning, performed with a view to percutaneous biopsy, revealed that the "lung tumour" was in fact related to the silicone implant (Fig. 2). Subsequent surgery confirmed rupture of the left breast prosthesis.
Depression and anxiety symptoms after lower limb amputation: the rise and fall.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the time course of anxiety and depressive symptoms over a three year period after amputation.


DESIGN AND SETTINGS
A prospective study in inpatients admitted to a rehabilitation ward after lower limb amputation.


SUBJECTS
Successive admissions over a one-year period of whom 68 were alive at follow-up, 2-3 years later.


INTERVENTIONS
Nil.


MAIN MEASURES
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) on admission and discharge from inpatient rehabilitation and at a 2.7(SD=0.4) year mean follow-up period with correlation to demographic and patient features.


RESULTS
Of the 68 responding patients, 12 (17.6%) and 13 (19.1%) had symptoms of depression and anxiety respectively. This compared to an original incidence of 16 (23.5%) for both on admission and 2 (2.9%) on discharge. This rise in incidence from time of discharge was highly significant for both depression (P<0.001) and anxiety (P<0.001). Depression at follow-up was correlated to depressive symptoms at admission (P=0.03) and to having other significant comorbidities (P=0.02). Anxiety symptoms were commoner in younger patients (P=0.03). There was no association with age, gender, living in isolation, vascular cause for amputation, wearing a limb prosthesis or length of original inpatient stay.


CONCLUSIONS
Depression and anxiety are common after lower limb amputation but resolve during inpatient rehabilitation. The incidence then rises again after discharge.
Are sunscreens a new environmental risk associated with coastal tourism?

The world coastal-zone population and coastal tourism are expected to grow during this century. Associated with that, there will be an increase in the use of sunscreens and cosmetics with UV-filters in their formulation, which will make coastal regions worldwide susceptible to the impact of these cosmetics. Recent investigations indicate that organic and inorganic UV-filters, as well as many other components that are constituents of the sunscreens, reach the marine environment--directly as a consequence of water recreational activities and/or indirectly from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) effluents. Toxicity of organic and inorganic UV filters has been demonstrated in aquatic organism. UV-filters inhibit growth in marine phytoplankton and tend to bioaccumulate in the food webs. These findings together with coastal tourism data records highlight the potential risk that the increasing use of these cosmetics would have in coastal marine areas. Nevertheless, future investigations into distribution, residence time, aging, partitioning and speciation of their main components and by-products in the water column, persistence, accumulation and toxicity in the trophic chain, are needed to understand the magnitude and real impact of these emerging pollutants in the marine system.
Salmonella Suppresses the TRIF-Dependent Type I Interferon Response in Macrophages

UNLABELLED
Salmonella enterica is an intracellular pathogen that causes diseases ranging from gastroenteritis to typhoid fever. Salmonella bacteria trigger an autophagic response in host cells upon infection but have evolved mechanisms for suppressing this response, thereby enhancing intracellular survival. We recently reported that S. enterica serovar Typhimurium actively recruits the host tyrosine kinase focal adhesion kinase (FAK) to the surface of the Salmonella-containing vacuole (SCV) (K. A. Owen et al., PLoS Pathog 10:e1004159, 2014). FAK then suppresses autophagy through activation of the Akt/mTORC1 signaling pathway. In FAK(-/-) macrophages, bacteria are captured in autophagosomes and intracellular survival is attenuated. Here we show that the cell-autonomous bacterial suppression of autophagy also suppresses the broader innate immune response by inhibiting production of beta interferon (IFN-β). Induction of bacterial autophagy (xenophagy), but not autophagy alone, triggers IFN-β production through a pathway involving the adapter TRIF and endosomal Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and TLR4. Selective FAK knockout in macrophages resulted in rapid bacterial clearance from mucosal tissues after oral infection. Clearance correlated with increased IFN-β production by intestinal macrophages and with IFN-β-dependent induction of IFN-γ by intestinal NK cells. Blockade of either IFN-β or IFN-γ increased host susceptibility to infection, whereas experimental induction of IFN-β was protective. Thus, bacterial suppression of autophagy not only enhances cell-autonomous survival but also suppresses more-systemic innate immune responses by limiting type I and type II interferons.


IMPORTANCE
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium represents one of the most commonly identified bacterial causes of foodborne illness worldwide. S. Typhimurium has developed numerous strategies to evade detection by the host immune system. Autophagy is a cellular process that involves the recognition and degradation of defective proteins and organelles. More recently, autophagy has been described as an important means by which host cells recognize and eliminate invading intracellular pathogens and plays a key role in the production of cytokines. Previously, we determined that Salmonella bacteria are able to suppress their own autophagic capture and elimination by macrophages. Building on that study, we show here that the inhibition of autophagy by Salmonella also prevents the induction of a protective cytokine response mediated by beta interferon (IFN-β) and IFN-γ. Together, these findings identify a novel virulence strategy whereby Salmonella bacteria prevent cell autonomous elimination via autophagy and suppress the activation of innate immune responses.