bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
No-Touch Disinfection Methods to Decrease Multidrug-Resistant Organism Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Marra Alexandre R. , Schweizer Marin L. , Edmond Michael B. 
Published: November 2017

BACKGROUNDRecent studies have shown that using no-touch disinfection technologies (ie, ultraviolet light [UVL] or hydrogen peroxide vapor [HPV] systems) can limit the transmission of nosocomial pathogens and prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). To investigate these findings further, we performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the impact of no-touch disinfection methods to decrease HAIs.METHODSWe searched PubMed, CINAHL, CDSR, DARE and EMBASE through April 2017 for studies evaluating no-touch disinfection technology and the nosocomial infection rates forClostridium difficile, methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and other multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). We employed random-effect models to obtain pooled risk ratio (pRR) estimates. Heterogeneity was evaluated with I2estimation and the Cochran Q statistic. Pooled risk ratios forC. difficile, MRSA, VRE, and MDRO were assessed separately.RESULTSIn total, 20 studies were included in the final review: 13 studies using UVL systems and 7 studies using HPV systems. When the results of the UVL studies were pooled, statistically significant reduction insC. difficileinfection (CDI) (pRR, 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49–0.84) and VRE infection rates (pRR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.28–0.65) were observed. No differences were found in rates of MRSA or gram-negative multidrug-resistant pathogens.CONCLUSIONSUltraviolet light no-touch disinfection technology may be effective in preventing CDI and VRE infection.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2018;39:20–31
A national survey of online gambling behaviours
Authors: Columb D. , O’Gara C. 
Published: November 2017

ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to look at an Irish population in relation to the online gambling activities people are engaging with, the reasons for gambling online, their attitudes to online gambling and the financial/mental health consequences of online gambling.MethodsThe outline for this study was adapted from a study by McCormack et al. (2014) in relation to online gambling, with the aim of replicating this study in an Irish population. An online survey consisting of 11 categories related to online gambling was advertised online over a 7-month period. Participants answered on activities gambled online, devices used, duration of time gambling, as well mental health/financial consequences of their gambling.ResultsA total of 208 users participated in the online survey. The most popular gambling activity played was Sports Betting (26.9%) and the most commonly used device was Mobile app (68.6%). The main reason for gambling online was ‘To win money’ (84.6%), the main reason for ending gambling sessions – ‘Had something else to do’ (67.3%) and the most prominent emotion experienced – Excitement (60.6%). There were findings related to the severity of gambling addiction (75% – had to borrow or sell to fund gambling) and their attitudes towards online gambling (strongly agreed – 39.9% – The potential dangers of gambling should be advertised).ConclusionsOnline gamblers in Ireland share similar behavioural profiles to online gamblers in the United Kingdom and worldwide. The majority of participants in this research have been adversely affected from both a mental and financial perspective due to their gambling behaviours.
CENSORING AN ‘ENGLISH RENEGADE’ IN GERMANY: THE CASE OF MORGAN PHILIPS PRICE
Authors: STORER COLIN 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe author and politician Morgan Philips Price (1885–1976) is best remembered today as a sympathetic eye-witness to the Russian Revolution and commentator on events in Soviet Russia throughout his long life. Less well known are his activities in Germany, to which he travelled in 1918 to observe the course of the November Revolution and better communicate his favourable view of Bolshevik Russia to Western Europe, and where he remained until 1924. In the summer of 1919, Price was arrested and held without trial in Berlin's Moabit prison, an incident which he later insisted was instigated by the British authorities. This article examines the extensive files on Price kept by the British security services in order to verify this interpretation of his arrest. In so doing, it will argue that a consideration of the case not only sheds light on an interesting aspect of Price's biography but also reveals much about the prevailing mind-set amongst some leading British military officers, security personnel, and politicians, and the methods by which they sought to neutralize perceived ‘revolutionary’ threats in the months after the First World War.
Scar satisfaction and body image in thyroidectomy patients: prospective study in a tertiary referral centre
Authors: Sethukumar P , Ly D , Awad Z , Tolley N S 
Published: November 2017

AbstractBackground:This study is the first to evaluate scar satisfaction and body image in thyroidectomy patients using validated assessment tools.Methods:A total of 123 thyroidectomy patients were recruited over 8 months. Both patients and clinicians completed assessment tools that included: the Manchester Scar Scale (to measure scar perception), Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (to assess body image), Body Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (to screen for body dysmorphic disorder) and EQ-5D (to measure life quality). A separate image panel comprising experts and non-experts assessed 15 scar photographs. The results were analysed using non-parametric descriptive statistics.Results:Poor body image was associated with poor scar perception (ρ = 0.178,p= 0.05). Poor life quality correlated with poor scar perception (ρ = −0.292,p= 0.001). Scar length did not affect scar perception. Prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder among patients was found to be 8.94 per cent, which is higher than general population rates.Conclusion:Negative body image and life quality impact negatively upon scar perception.
The truth aboutin vitroculture ofCryptosporidiumspecies
Authors: Karanis Panagiotis 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCryptosporidiumresearch has focused on the development of infection control, and effective therapy that has thus far been hampered by the inability to cultureCryptosporidium in vitro. Other limitations include inadequate animal models, cumbersome screening procedures for chemotherapeutic approaches and a lack of tools for genetic manipulation. These limitations can, however, be eased by the improvement and focused development ofin vitrocultivation. The ability to culture relevantCryptosporidiumisolatesin vitroand to propagate the life cycle stages that are responsible for causing disease in an infected host is still a critical link. This ability will facilitate other relevant approaches, e.g., the ability to knockout genes and the application of broader screening for drug discoveries and vaccine developments, in combination with new discoveries on the parasite's basic biology, genetic manipulation and new life cycle stages. Success in this effort represents an essential step towards significant progress in the control of cryptosporidiosis.
High-throughput sequencing of kDNA amplicons for the analysis ofLeishmaniaminicircles and identification of Neotropical species
Authors: KOCHER ARTHUR , VALIÈRE SOPHIE , BAÑULS ANNE-LAURE , MURIENNE JÉRÔME 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYLeishmaniakinetoplast DNA contains thousands of small circular molecules referred to as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicercles. kDNA minicircles are the preferred targets for sensitiveLeishmaniadetection, because they are present in high copy number and contain conserved sequence blocks in which polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers can be designed. On the other hand, the heterogenic nature of minicircle networks has hampered the use of this peculiar genomic region for strain typing. The characterization ofLeishmaniaminicirculomes used to require isolation and cloning steps prior to sequencing. Here, we show that high-throughput sequencing of single minicircle PCR products allows bypassing these laborious laboratory tasks. The 120 bp long minicircle conserved region was amplified by PCR from 18Leishmaniastrains representative of the major species complexes found in the Neotropics. High-throughput sequencing of PCR products enabled recovering significant numbers of distinct minicircle sequences from each strain, reflecting minicircle class diversity. Minicircle sequence analysis revealed patterns that are congruent with current hypothesis ofLeishmaniarelationships. Then, we show that a barcoding-like approach based on minicircle sequence comparisons may allow reliable identifications ofLeishmaniaspp. This work opens up promising perspectives for the study of kDNA minicercles and a variety of applications inLeishmaniaresearch.
The exoteric/esoteric divide and Schellenberg's Sceptical Religion
Authors: DUMSDAY TRAVIS 
Published: November 2017

AbstractIn a ground-breaking series of books, Canadian philosopher J. L. Schellenberg (2005d; 2007b; 2009; 2013a) has developed a systematic non-theistic, non-naturalist philosophy of religion. One of the core claims within his system is that given our limited evidence (and limited capabilities for assessing what evidence we do have), scepticism concerning the truth of religious propositions is at present the only warranted epistemic response. In this article I draw attention to a potential complication for Schellenberg's assessment of the pragmatic implications of this evidential situation, a complication arising from the distinction between exoteric and esoteric religion.
The humanness of artificial non-normative personalities
Authors: Clark Kevin B. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractTechnoscientific ambitions for perfecting human-like machines, by advancing state-of-the-art neuromorphic architectures and cognitive computing, may end in ironic regret without pondering the humanness of fallible artificial non-normative personalities. Self-organizing artificial personalities individualize machine performance and identity through fuzzy conscientiousness, emotionality, extraversion/introversion, and other traits, rendering insights into technology-assisted human evolution, robot ethology/pedagogy, and best practices against unwanted autonomous machine behavior.
The importance of motivation and emotion for explaining human cognition
Authors: Güss C. Dominik , Dörner Dietrich 
Published: November 2017

AbstractLake et al. discuss building blocks of human intelligence that are quite different from those of artificial intelligence. We argue that a theory of human intelligence has to incorporate human motivations and emotions. The interaction of motivation, emotion, and cognition is the real strength of human intelligence and distinguishes it from artificial intelligence.
Autonomous development and learning in artificial intelligence and robotics: Scaling up deep learning to human-like learning
Authors: Oudeyer Pierre-Yves 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAutonomous lifelong development and learning are fundamental capabilities of humans, differentiating them from current deep learning systems. However, other branches of artificial intelligence have designed crucial ingredients towards autonomous learning: curiosity and intrinsic motivation, social learning and natural interaction with peers, and embodiment. These mechanisms guide exploration and autonomous choice of goals, and integrating them with deep learning opens stimulating perspectives.
Crossmodal lifelong learning in hybrid neural embodied architectures
Authors: Wermter Stefan , Griffiths Sascha , Heinrich Stefan 
Published: November 2017

AbstractLake et al. point out that grounding learning in general principles of embodied perception and social cognition is the next step in advancing artificial intelligent machines. We suggest it is necessary to go further and consider lifelong learning, which includes developmental learning, focused on embodiment as applied in developmental robotics and neurorobotics, and crossmodal learning that facilitates integrating multiple senses.
A usage-based cognitive linguistic (re-)interpretation of priming evidence
Authors: Günther Franziska 
Published: November 2017

AbstractUsage-based cognitive linguistic (UBCL) theories offer a unifying interpretation of the different (structural vs. [more] lexical) priming effects reported by Branigan & Pickering (B&P), and they provide an ideal basis for explaining contextual influences on priming. However, they also call into question B&P's claim that priming “provides evidence that is directly informative about mental representation” (sect. 1.5, para. 1).
What structural priming can and cannot reveal
Authors: Koring Loes , Reuland Eric 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe nature of mental representations of linguistic expressions in relation to the time course from intention to articulation is a major issue. We discuss Branigan & Pickering's (B&P's) proposal to use structural priming to tap into this process. We show that their interpretation of their findings cannot be maintained. We reinterpret these results and suggest a revision of their conclusions.
Structural priming is not a Royal Road to representations
Authors: Meyer Antje S. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractBranigan & Pickering (B&P) propose that the structural priming paradigm is a Royal Road to linguistic representations of any kind, unobstructed by influences of psychological processes. In my view, however, they are too optimistic about the versatility of the paradigm and, more importantly, its ability to provide direct evidence about the nature of stored linguistic representations.
Setting the empirical record straight: Acceptability judgments appear to be reliable, robust, and replicable
Authors: Sprouse Jon , Almeida Diogo 
Published: November 2017

AbstractBranigan & Pickering (B&P) advocate the use of syntactic priming to investigate linguistic representations and argue that it overcomes several purported deficiencies of acceptability judgments. While we recognize the merit of drawing attention to a potentially underexplored experimental methodology in language science, we do not believe that the empirical evidence supports B&P's claims about acceptability judgments. We present the relevant evidence.
Pivotal Politics and the ideological content of Landmark Laws
Authors: Gray Thomas R. , Jenkins Jeffery A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe Pivotal Politics model (Krehbiel) has significantly influenced the study of American politics, but its core empirical prediction – that the size of the gridlock interval is negatively related to legislative productivity – has not found strong empirical support. We argue that previous research featured a disconnect between the exclusively ideological theory and tests that relied on outcome variables that were not purely ideological. We remedy this by dividing landmark laws (Mayhew) into two counts – those that invoke ideological preferences and those that do not – and uncover results consistent with Pivotal Politics’ core prediction: the size of the gridlock interval is negatively related to the production of ideological legislation. We also find that the size of the gridlock zone is positively related to the production of nonideological legislation. These results hold up in the face of various sensitivity analyses and robustness checks. We further show that Pivotal Politics explains variation in ideological legislation better than alternative theories based on partisan agenda control.
Obstacle avoidance control of a human-in-the-loop mobile robot system using harmonic potential fields
Authors: Ton C. , Kan Z. , Mehta S. S. 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYThis paper considers applications where a human agent is navigating a semi-autonomous mobile robot in an environment with obstacles. The human input to the robot can be based on a desired navigation objective, which may not be known to the robot. Additionally, the semi-autonomous robot can be programmed to ensure obstacle avoidance as it navigates the environment. A shared control architecture can be used to appropriately fuse the human and the autonomy inputs to obtain a net control input that drives the robot. In this paper, an adaptive, near-continuous control allocation function is included in the shared controller, which continuously varies the control effort exerted by the human and the autonomy based on the position of the robot relative to obstacles. The developed control allocation function facilitates the human to freely navigate the robot when away from obstacles, and it causes the autonomy control input to progressively dominate as the robot approaches obstacles. A harmonic potential field-based non-linear sliding mode controller is developed to obtain the autonomy control input for obstacle avoidance. In addition, a robust feed-forward term is included in the autonomy control input to maintain stability in the presence of adverse human inputs, which can be critical in applications such as to prevent collision or roll-over of smart wheelchairs due to erroneous human inputs. Lyapunov-based stability analysis is presented to guarantee finite-time stability of the developed shared controller, i.e., the autonomy guarantees obstacle avoidance as the human navigates the robot. Experimental results are provided to validate the performance of the developed shared controller.
DOMINANCE, PROFICIENCY, AND SPANISH HERITAGE SPEAKERS’ PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH VOWELS
Authors: Shea Christine 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis study examines how dominance and proficiency relate to Spanish heritage speaker vowel productions. Participants’ normalized vowel measurements were compared to nonheritage native speakers of Spanish and English using the Pillai score, an output of Multivariate Analysis of Variances (MANOVAs) that allows comparisons across distributions of two or more dependent variables. With Pillai scores as the dependent variable, we created two multiple regression models for each language, one with factors related to dominance, one with factors related to proficiency. We use commonality analysis (variance partitioning) to determine the unique and shared contribution of each variable to the regression models. The results showed different patterns of unique and shared variance across English and Spanish for the factors related to dominance and also for proficiency. Given this, we maintain that it is important to preserve dominance and proficiency as separate but related constructs when considering heritage speaker linguistic data.
Do executive functions explain the covariance between internalizing and externalizing behaviors?
Authors: Hatoum Alexander S. , Rhee Soo Hyun , Corley Robin P. , Hewitt John K. , Friedman Naomi P. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis study examined whether executive functions (EFs) might be common features of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems across development. We examined relations between three EF latent variables (a common EF factor and factors specific to updating working memory and shifting sets), constructed from nine laboratory tasks administered at age 17, to latent growth intercept (capturing stability) and slope (capturing change) factors of teacher- and parent-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors in 885 individual twins aged 7 to 16 years. We then estimated the proportion of intercept–intercept and slope–slope correlations predicted by EF as well as the association between EFs and a common psychopathology factor (P factor) estimated from all 9 years of internalizing and externalizing measures. Common EF was negatively associated with the intercepts of teacher-rated internalizing and externalizing behavior in males, and explained 32% of their covariance; in the P factor model, common EF was associated with the P factor in males. Shifting-specific was positively associated with the externalizing slope across sex. EFs did not explain covariation between parent-rated behaviors. These results suggest that EFs are associated with stable problem behavior variation, explain small proportions of covariance, and are a risk factor that that may depend on gender.
The shelf space and strategic placement of healthy and discretionary foods in urban, urban-fringe and rural/non-metropolitan Australian supermarkets
Authors: Cameron Adrian J 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectiveSupermarkets are a key influence on eating behaviours, but it is unknown if the promotion of food within stores varies on a geographic gradient from urban, to urban-fringe and non-metropolitan areas. The present study aimed to assess the shelf space and strategic placement of healthy and discretionary foods in each of urban, urban-fringe and non-metropolitan Australian supermarkets.Design/SettingIn-store audits were conducted in stores from one of the two major Australian supermarket chains in urban (n19), urban-fringe (n20) and non-metropolitan (n26) areas of Victoria. These audits examined selected food items (crisps/chips, chocolate, confectionery, soft drinks/sodas, fruits and vegetables) and measured the shelf space and the proportion of end-of-aisle and cash register displays containing these products. Store size was measured as the sum of aisle length. Differences in the supermarket food environment with respect to location were assessed, before and after adjustment for neighbourhood socio-economic position.ResultsThe strategic placement of discretionary foods was commonly observed in all supermarkets. Adjusting for store size (larger in urban-fringe and rural areas), urban stores had greater shelf space devoted to fruits and vegetables, and less checkouts with soft drinks, than urban-fringe and rural/non-metropolitan areas. Differences remained following adjustment for neighbourhood socio-economic position. No clear pattern was observed for end-of-aisle displays, or the placement of chocolate and confectionery at checkouts.ConclusionsThe shelf space of healthy and discretionary foods in urban-fringe and rural stores parallels the prevalence of overweight and obesity in these areas. Interventions in urban-fringe and rural stores targeting the shelf space of healthy foods and the placement of soft drinks at key displays may be useful obesity prevention initiatives.
Variation in pre-harvest sprouting tolerance and fresh seed germination in mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) genotypes
Authors: Lamichaney Amrit , Katiyar Pradip Kumar , Laxmi Vijay , Pratap Aditya 
Published: November 2017

AbstractMungbean seeds, despite being protected inside the pod, are susceptible to pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) following rainfall due to lack of fresh seed dormancy (FSD), which deteriorates the quality of the seed/grain produced. Therefore, development of mungbean cultivars with short (10–15 days) period of FSD has become important to curtail losses incurred by PHS. In this study, we investigated variations in PHS, fresh seed germination (FSG) and activity of α-amylase enzyme in diverse mungbean genotypes. There was a wide variation in PHS tolerance and FSG among 163 genotypes examined and 14 genotypes were found to be tolerant (<20%) to PHS. Seed germination in a pod, a measure used to evaluate PHS, varied from 7.14% in germplasm accession Chamu 4 to 82.52% in cultivated variety IPM 2–3. There was a marked increase in α-amylase activity in genotypes showing high FSG and PHS, especially at 48 and 72 h after germination as compared with PHS tolerant genotypes. Therefore, α-amylase can be used as an effective biochemical marker to evaluate a large number of mungbean genotypes for FSD and PHS. Also, the variation in seed germinability as found in this study could be further used for mungbean improvement programme.