Search

This paper investigates decentralized composite optimization problems involving a common non-smooth regularization term over an undirected and connected network. In the same situation, there exist lots of gradient-based proximal distributed methods, but most of them are only sublinearly convergent. The proof of linear convergence for this series of algorithms is extremely difficult. To set up the problem, we presume all networked agents use the same non-smooth regularization term, which is the circumstance for most machine learning to implement based on centralized optimization. For this scenario, most existing proximal-gradient algorithms trend to ignore the cost of gradient evaluations, which results in degraded performance. To tackle this problem, we further set the local cost function to the average of a moderate amount of local cost subfunctions and develop an edge-based stochastic proximal gradient algorithm (SPG-Edge) by employing local unbiased stochastic averaging gradient method. When the non-smooth term does not exist, the proposed algorithm could be extended to some notable primal-dual domain algorithms, such as EXTRA and DIGing. Finally, we provide a simplified proof of linear convergence and conduct numerical experiments to illustrate the validity of theoretical results.

The under-race lubrication system providing a moderate amount of oil to high-speed bearings is one of the key factors to ensure its good lubrication and cooling. To investigate the oil capture performance of the oil scoop, a complete numerical calculation model was established, and unsteady simulations of oil–gas two-phase flow inside the under-race lubrication system were carried out. The results indicate that the oil capture efficiency increases first and then decreases with increasing rotating speed at different oil jet velocities. The ratio of the rotating Reynolds number of the oil scoop to the Reynolds number of the oil jet corresponding to the maximum oil capture efficiency changes linearly with oil jet velocity. There are three variation trends of oil capture efficiency at different rotating speeds with the increase of oil jet velocity: monotonically decreasing, first increasing, and then decreasing and monotonically increasing. However, the amount of oil captured by the oil scoop increases monotonically under all operating conditions. The effect of oil temperature on oil capture efficiency is mainly due to the change of dynamic viscosity of the oil. The oil capture efficiency can be improved by appropriately increasing the oil temperature within a certain temperature range.

Background The role of physical activity in enhancing health is well recognized. However, in the more industrialized countries, physical activity rates are declining, and the emerging COVID-19 pandemic may amplify this scenario. Thus, this study aimed to report the Italian population’s physical activity profile living in the North-western regions during the national lockdown. Methods Physical activity was assessed using the official Italian short form of IPAQ, intended for Social Networking Services (SNS). Participation was voluntary, and people could fill the questionnaire simply by clicking on a specific link. Results The final sample size was 612 Italians, male and female, equally distributed (49.1% male and 50.9% female). Data showed a percentage of 15.4% of inactive subjects (MET 2500). Women were more inactive than men (p p p Conclusions Italians living in North-western regions maintained a moderate amount of physical activity during the quarantine. This behavior should be encouraged, particularly among women that usually appear to be less active than men.

Background In 2018 and 2019, there were floods in the coastal regions of Kerala. Many individuals and families were victims on both these occasions; these floods had devastating impact on individual psychological wellbeing, their financial stability, and on overall family wellbeing. Furthermore, many people in vulnerable geographical areas still live in uncertainty and fear. In this context, our study examined whether continuous victimization of natural calamities, like floods in Kerala, leads to the development of learned helplessness and decreased psychological wellbeing among those affected. We also studied whether proenvironment care behavior increased among flood-affected individuals. Materials and Methods We studied 374 heads of families in Kerala, selected through the Quota sampling method. They belonged to the following three groups: (1) flood-affected only once (OFA, n = 124), (2) flood-affected twice (TFA, n = 124), and (3) never flood-affected (NFA, n = 124) households. The key variables of learned helplessness, psychological wellbeing, and proenvironment care behavior were measured using learned helplessness scale, psychological wellbeing scale, and the environmental behavior scale, respectively. Statistical Analysis The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to analyze the data for independent groups. Results Learned helplessness was found to be high among the TFA group. Psychological wellbeing and proenvironment care behavior were high among the OFA group as compared with the TFA group. The NFA group had higher learned helplessness in comparison to the OFA group, and psychological wellbeing and proenvironment care behavior were low when compared with the TFA group. Conclusion We conclude that surviving a moderate amount of risk is perhaps necessary for better psychological wellbeing and that too many or too few risks in life are detrimental to good psychological health. Immediate psychological support among victims of natural calamities and periodic examination of well-being and psychological interventions among people who are vulnerable for frequent victimization of natural calamities have to part of disaster management related to natural calamities.

Despite extensive research on symmetric polynomial quadrature rules for triangles, as well as approaches to their calculation, few studies have focused on non-polynomial functions, particularly on their integration using symmetric triangle rules. In this paper, we present two approaches to computing symmetric triangle rules for singular integrands by developing rules that can integrate arbitrary functions. The first approach is well suited for a moderate amount of points and retains much of the efficiency of polynomial quadrature rules. The second approach better addresses large amounts of points, though it is less efficient than the first approach. We demonstrate the effectiveness of both approaches on singular integrands, which can often yield relative errors two orders of magnitude less than those from polynomial quadrature rules.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether Chinese college students' social cyberloafing out of class has a curvilinear effect on academic performance and whether students' levels of psychological detachment and relaxation mediate the effect.Design/methodology/approachA field survey was used to collect 502 self-reported responses from student Internet users at a large university located in central China.FindingsThe results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between social cyberloafing out of class and academic performance. Two types of effort recovery experience gained from social cyberloafing, psychological detachment and relaxation, mediate that effect. Students' social cyberloafing out of class is positively associated with psychological detachment and relaxation, which in turn, have opposite effects on academic performance.Practical implicationsThis study offers novel insights into the effects of social cyberloafing on college students' academic achievement. The findings illustrate how social cyberloafing can serve as a recovery experience and improve academic performance, but it can hinder performance if the cyberloafing is excessive.Originality/valueThis study extends the cyberloafing literature by focusing on Chinese college students' cyberloafing out of class. The study finds that a moderate amount of social cyberloafing out of class can result in psychological detachment, relaxation and improved performance when returning to academic work. However, both too much or too little social cyberloafing can result in difficulty returning to academic work and reduced academic performance. The findings are novel to the cyberloafing literature.

Purpose: To explore the relationship between different amounts of physical exercise and drug craving in individuals with substance-use disorders (SUD), and to reveal the mediating role of internal inhibition between physical activity and drug craving. Method: This study adopted the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Internal Inhibition Scale, and Drug Craving Scale to assess 438 cases of SUD in a compulsory isolation detoxification center in southwest China. Results: (1) The amount of physical exercise individuals with SUD engaged in was positively correlated with internal inhibition and negatively correlated with drug craving, while the amount of physical exercise was negatively correlated with drug craving. (2) The amount of physical exercise was able to negatively predict drug craving in addicts, the amount of physical exercise and internal inhibition were able to jointly predict drug craving, and internal inhibition played a mediating role between the amount of physical exercise and drug craving (the mediating effect was 0.22). (3) There was a dose-effect relationship regarding different amounts of physical exercises and drug craving. Internal inhibition did not mediate between a low amount of physical exercise and drug craving, it played a partial mediating role between a moderate amount of physical exercise and drug craving (the mediating effect was −0.19), and it played a partial mediating role between a high amount of physical exercise and drug craving (the mediating effect was −0.15). Conclusions: Physical activity has a positive effect on reducing drug craving in individuals with SUD. Moreover, in the process of sports rehabilitation for SUD, medium or high amounts of physical activity were required in order to effectively reduce and alleviate drug cravings.

Purpose This paper aims to reduce the confliction between different retail channels. Design/methodology/approach By investigating a game-theoretic model consisting of a dominant hotel, a promoter and an OTA, the authors analyze the optimal amount of reserved rooms on the hotel's official website and realize the coordination between the hotel and the promoter with an appropriate contact. Findings When the gap between promoter’s reservation profits under different promotion cost coefficients is reasonable, complete coordination can be achieved in the supply chain. In addition, numerical examples are conducted to show that the profit of hotel and supply chain can be maximized with a moderate amount of reserved rooms on OTA. Research limitations/implications The authors only focus on one OTA scenarios, which overlooks the competition between OTAs. Practical implications Coordination strategy can fierce the increase on profit when the customer conversion rate increases. Originality/value The authors propose a contract menu to help the hotel avoid the profit loss under asymmetric promotion cost information.

Passwords are widely used to protect our sensitive information or to gain access to specific resources. They should be changed frequently and be strong enough to prevent well-known attacks. Unfortunately, user-chosen passwords are usually short and lack sufficient entropy. A possible solution to these problems is to adopt a Key Derivation Function (KDF) that allows legitimate users to spend a moderate amount of time on key derivation, while imposing CPU/memory-intensive operations on the attacker side. In this paper, we focus on long-term passwords secured by the Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2) and present the case study of Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS), a disk-encryption specification commonly implemented in Linux based operating systems. In particular, we describe how LUKS protects long-term keys by means of iteration counts defined at runtime, and analyze how external factors may affect the iteration counts computation. In doing so, we provide means of evaluating the iteration count values defined at run-time and experimentally show to what level PBKDF2 is still capable of providing sufficient security margin for a LUKS implementation.

Objectives Deciding when cuspal coverage is needed for posterior teeth is considered a challenge for dentists. The aims were to assess dentists' decision making regarding the need for cuspal coverage for vital teeth (VT) and endodontically treated teeth (ETT) with varying amounts of tooth structure loss and to identify clinical situations of dissimilarity and uncertainty in decision making. Materials and Methods A random sample of 182 dentists were invited to participate in the survey. The survey included photos of 13 posterior teeth: six VT and seven ETT. The clinical situations selected were based on a hypothetical scale of typodont teeth with ascending amounts of tooth structure loss. A brief description of each situation was provided. Each dentist was asked to decide whether cuspal coverage is needed, not needed, or unsure. Descriptive analyses using SPSS were conducted. Seventy‐five percent was chosen as a cutoff point for assessing similarity in decision making. The unsure answer reflected uncertainty. Associations were assessed using chi‐square test. Results One hundred twenty dentists participated (65.9% response rate, 70 females). Median for years of experience was 3.5 (interquartile range 1.1–10.8). Analyses revealed a similarity percentage of

This paper proposes a flat-plate solar collector system (FPSCs) with antifreeze characteristics which uses the phase change material (PCM) to store up a moderate amount of thermal energy during the daytime and release the energy during the night to prevent the FPSCs from freezing damage. Previous studies about the FPSCs exploiting the PCM are mainly focus on the purpose of balancing the tank water temperature between the daytime and night. In the present work, the study on the characteristics of the PCM-FPSCs for the purpose of antifreeze has been conducted. A mathematical model with high precision for the daytime working and night freezing of the system is present. The daytime working and night antifreeze performance of the system are evaluated. The results show that the conventional FPSC system will get frozen when the daily average temperature is less than 5 °C. The PA-FPSC system can work when the daily average temperature is in the range of 0–5 °C.

To incentivize early contributions in reward-based crowdfunding, project creators frequently offer reward options in limited numbers, of which the “early bird” is one of the most prominent. Early birds offer the same rewards as an alternative option, but are reduced in price. Although studies suggest that scarcity can influence backers' decisions, research lacks knowledge of whether early bird options impact backers' decision-making once these options are sold out but still visible to potential contributors. Drawing on the phantom effect theory, this multi-method study investigates (1) how phantom alternatives impact backers' selections of available options, and (2) how the phantom effect interacts with different levels of discount and social proof. Our results from an online experiment with 512 participants and a longitudinal observational study based on 676 crowdfunding projects reveal that phantom options make backers choose the equivalent but undiscounted reward option more often. This effect is stronger with a moderate amount of discount for the early bird option rather than a high one. Moreover, social proof (i.e., number of backers who have chosen the early bird option) interacts with the discount amount in that higher levels of social proof weaken the relationship between the amount of discount and the phantom effect. These results show that, contrary to the traditional offline retail perspective, where sold-outs usually hurt sales, sold-out early birds may help in increasing funding revenues in reward-based crowdfunding, if employed strategically. Thus, we provide counterintuitive learnings for research as well as fundraisers looking for capital through reward-based crowdfunding.

International audience; Shake table testing is a very efficient tool in earthquake engineering that may be used to enhance construction methods andthe overall safety of structures. Shake tables permit investigation of the dynamic behaviour of civil engineering structures.This paper details the development of a uniaxial shake table that was designed and built with the objective of limiting its costto a moderate amount, bellow 250 k€. The technical specifications of the shake table are presented as well as the evaluationof its performance and its validation. It is shown that it is possible to build an operational shake table capable of generatingreal seismic motion for the assessment of structural behaviour at a moderate cost.

Media use could be detrimental to children's language and literacy skills because it may displace other language-enhancing activities like shared reading and caregiver-child interactions. Furthermore, the extent to which children use media with adults (joint media engagement), the extent to which they use interactive media (apps/games), and the time of the day and week during which media use occurs may attenuate any negative effects. The current study examines the relation between characteristics of children's media use and gains in first graders' language and literacy skills. Children (N = 488) completed direct assessments of language and literacy skills in the spring of kindergarten and the spring of first grade. Parents reported how many hours children used both interactive and non-interactive media during different times of the day on the most recent weekday and weekend day and responded to items about the extent to which they engage with their children during media use. A quadratic relationship between media use and language gains showed that a moderate amount of media use was related to larger language gains, whereas high use was related to smaller gains. For literacy, an interaction between media use and joint media engagement showed a small negative effect of media use at low levels of joint media engagement and little to no relation between media use and literacy gains at higher levels of joint media engagement. Children's language and literacy skills were not predicted by either the proportion of media time that was spent with apps/games or morning and weekday media use. These results show that moderate amounts of media use may not be a negative influence on children's developing language skills, whereas high levels may displace other language-enhancing activities. Additionally, joint media engagement may play an important buffering role in the relation between media use and early literacy skills, aligned with current recommendations encouraging co-viewing.

The underlying structure of self-harm behaviors is not well-understood; for example, whether suicidality and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) lie on a single dimension or two separate dimensions is unknown. We used confirmatory factor analyses to examine the factor structure of self-harm items in a clinical/community sample (N = 641). Of three alternative factor structures (one-factor, correlated-factors, bifactor), the bifactor model fit best. The general factor, representing overlap between suicidality and NSSI, captured the majority of model variance and was the strongest predictor of psychosocial correlates. The NSSI-specific factor captured a moderate amount of variance and correlated uniquely with both antagonistic traits and obsessive-compulsive tendencies; this factor was named NSSI. The suicidality-specific factor explained little model variance and was weakly associated with external criteria; this factor was named low attraction to life. Results are interpreted as preliminary evidence for the utility of bifactor modeling in understanding the latent structure of self-harm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The behavioral immune system (BIS) includes perceptual mechanisms for detecting cues of contamination. Former studies have indicated that moisture has a disgusting property. Therefore, moisture could be a target for detecting contamination cues by the BIS. We conducted two experiments to examine the psychophysical basis of moisture perception and clarify the relationship between the perception of moisture and the BIS. We assumed that the number of high luminance areas in a visual image provided optical information that would enable the visual perception of moisture. In two experiments, we presented eight images of dough that contained different amounts of moisture as experimental stimuli. The amount of moisture shown in the images was increased in eight steps, from 28.6 to 42.9% of the total weight of the dough. In Experiment 1, the images were randomly presented on a computer display, and the participants (n = 22) were asked to rank the images in the order of the visually perceived moisture content. In Experiment 2, the participants (n = 15) completed pairwise comparisons based on the perceived moistness of the images. Furthermore, to examine the BIS responses, the participants rated the strength of disgust evoked by the stimuli, their motivation to avoid touching the stimuli, and the estimated magnitude of the risk of contamination by physical contact with the stimuli. The results indicated that the moisture content and the numbers of high luminance areas in the images accurately predicted the perception of moisture, suggesting that the detection of visual moisture was highly accurate, and the optical information served as an essential perceptual cue for detecting moisture. On the other hand, the BIS responses peaked in response to stimuli having approximately 33 to 39% moisture content. These results show that objects containing a moderate amount of moisture could be the target of visually detecting pathogens by the BIS.

Recent biological studies on the gut microbiota have revealed associations between imbalance of microbial community composition and diverse types of disease development. Composition change or reduced diversity of the gut microbiota has been identified by metagenomic samples of the gut microbiota from patients of chronic inflammatory diseases. Not only artificial but also natural antibiotics potentially regulate abnormal microbial species composition. In this paper, we propose a novel mathematical model for a feedback control system of the gut microbiota: a moderate amount of antibiotics injection as negative feedback regulator to abundances of microbial populations measured via metagenomic data with time delay. A class of autonomous N -species Lotka–Volterra type competitive system with discrete delays, representing population dynamics of the gut microbiota with delayed negative feedback via antibiotics injection, is considered to quantitatively characterize effect of multiple delayed feedback regulations on the microbial populations. Explicit formula for the corresponding characteristic equation evaluated at the positive equilibrium of the main model is successfully derived. Analytic results as well as numerical simulations are given for the two species case to quantitatively evaluate allowable ranges of time delay for avoiding population oscillations.

Relative to survivors of other traumatic events, survivors of sexual assault have an increased likelihood of meeting criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They are also comparatively more likely to exhibit higher levels of PTSD symptom severity. Recent research has highlighted the importance of trauma-related disclosure within the context of intimate relationships for posttrauma functioning and recovery, but this phenomenon has yet to be examined specifically in sexual assault survivor samples. Accordingly, this study examines the association of PTSD symptom severity with disclosure about one’s experience of sexual assault to one’s intimate partner, as well as the association of such disclosure with trauma-related shame and perception of partners’ negative and positive responses to trauma-related disclosure. A sample of 104 female participants who had disclosed their experience of sexual assault to their current romantic partner provided survey data. On average, these participants reported a moderate amount of trauma-related disclosure. Counter to hypotheses, level of engagement in trauma-related disclosure was not significantly correlated with PTSD symptom severity, shame, or perceived negative responses to disclosure. Only perceived positive responses to disclosure demonstrated a significant, bivariate association with overall level of engagement in trauma-related disclosure. Similarly, when trauma-related shame, negative responses, and positive responses were accounted for simultaneously, only positive responses were related to level of disclosure. Overall, results suggest that intimate relationships may serve as a unique context for disclosure about one’s history of sexual assault, with perceived positive responses demonstrating particularly strong associations with level of engagement in trauma-related disclosure.

Children’s ability to understand speakers with a wide range of dialects and accents is essential for efficient language development and communication in a global society. Here, the impact of regional dialect and foreign-accent variability on children’s speech understanding was evaluated in both quiet and noisy conditions. Five- to seven-year-old children ( n = 90) and adults ( n = 96) repeated sentences produced by three speakers with different accents—American English, British English, and Japanese-accented English—in quiet or noisy conditions. Adults had no difficulty understanding any speaker in quiet conditions. Their performance declined for the nonnative speaker with a moderate amount of noise; their performance only substantially declined for the British English speaker (i.e., below 93% correct) when their understanding of the American English speaker was also impeded. In contrast, although children showed accurate word recognition for the American and British English speakers in quiet conditions, they had difficulty understanding the nonnative speaker even under ideal listening conditions. With a moderate amount of noise, their perception of British English speech declined substantially and their ability to understand the nonnative speaker was particularly poor. These results suggest that although school-aged children can understand unfamiliar native dialects under ideal listening conditions, their ability to recognize words in these dialects may be highly susceptible to the influence of environmental degradation. Fully adult-like word identification for speakers with unfamiliar accents and dialects may exhibit a protracted developmental trajectory.

Gegenstand und Ziel: Zur Diagnosesicherung von sonographisch erfassten Veranderungen der Leber wird in der Regel eine ultraschallgestutzte Biopsie durchgefuhrt. Die haufigste Komplikation stellt dabei eine postinterventionelle Blutung dar, die zum Tod des Patienten fuhren kann. Ziel der Studie war zu uberprufen, ob ein Zusammenhang zwischen Veranderungen der Blutgerinnungswerte und einer sonographisch darstellbaren Blutung nach einer Leberbiopsie besteht. Material und Methoden: In die retrospektive Studie wurden Hunde und Katzen aufgenommen, bei denen eine ultraschallgestutzte Leberbiopsie erfolgt war. Einschlusskriterien waren ein dokumentierter Befund der Ultraschalluntersuchung und Befunde zum Parameter Thromboplastinzeit oder der Kombination aus aktivierter partieller Thromboplastinzeit und Prothrombinzeit. Die Daten wurden hinsichtlich des Vorliegens eines postinterventionellen Aszites und moglicher Risikofaktoren zu dessen Entstehung ausgewertet. Ergebnisse: Die Daten von 105 Patienten, 94 Hunden (89,5 %) und 11 Katzen (10,5 %), gingen in die Auswertung ein. Bei 26 von 105 Patienten (24,8 %) kam es zu postinterventionellen Komplikationen, davon waren 21,9 % Minorkomplikationen und 2,9 % Majorkomplikationen. Einen postinterventionellen Aszites entwickelten 22 von 94 Hunden (23,4 %) und vier von 11 Katzen (36,4 %). Ein Aszites nach Leberbiopsie trat bei drei von 10 (2,9 %) Hunden mit verlangerten Gerinnungszeiten von uber 25 % auf, wobei es sich bei zwei Hunden um einen geringgradigen und bei einem Hund um einen mittelgradigen Aszites handelte. Nach der Punktion wurde bei einer von zwei Katzen mit verlangerter Gerinnungszeit von mehr als 25 % ein mittelgradiger Aszites diagnostiziert. Zwischen dem Auftreten eines postinterventionellen Aszites und erhohten Gerinnungswerten lies sich kein statistisch signifikanter Zusammenhang nachweisen. Schlussfolgerung: Nach den Resultaten der Studie besteht kein Zusammenhang zwischen veranderten Gerinnungswerten und einer Blutung nach einer Leberbiopsie. Objective: Ultrasound-guided biopsies are obtained generally to reach a sound diagnosis in the case of sonographically detectable hepatic changes. The most common and well-known complication associated with ultrasound-guided biopsies is haemorrhage after sampling, which may lead to the patient’s death. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible association between alterations in the coagulation parameters and sonographically observable haemorrhage following liver biopsies. Materials and methods: Dogs and cats in which an ultrasound-guided biopsy of the liver had been performed were retrospectively enrolled in the study. Inclusion criteria were thoroughly documented sonographic findings and the results of the coagula tion parameter thromboplastin time or a combination of the activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time. The incidence of post-interventional ascites and possible risk factors were evaluated. Results: A total of 105 patients met the inclusion criteria and the data of 94 dogs (89.5 %) and 11 cats (10.5 %) were analysed. Post-interventional complications occurred in 26 of 105 patients (24.8 %), 21.9 % being minor and 2.9 % being major. Free abdominal fluid after intervention was sonographically detected in 22 of 94 dogs (23.4 %) and four of 11 cats (36.4 %). Three of 10 dogs (2.9 %) with a clinically significant prolongated coagulation time of > 25 % had ascites after biopsy. Only a small amount of fluid was detected in two of these three dogs, while a moderate amount of ascites was observed in the third dog. One of two cats with a prolonged coagulation time of > 25 % developed a moderate amount of ascites after the puncture. No statistically significant association was found between the occurrence of post-interventional ascites and a prolongation of the coagulation time. Conclusion: According to the study results, there is no obvi ous correlation between alterations in coagulation and haemorrhage after an ultrasound-guided liver biopsy.

Continuous running wheel (RW) exercise increases adult hippocampal neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) of rodents. Evidence suggests that greater amounts of RW exercise does not always equate to more adult-generated neurons in hippocampus. It can also be argued that continuous access to a RW results in exercise levels not representative of human exercise patterns. This study tested if RW paradigms that more closely represent human exercise patterns (e.g. shorter bouts, alternating daily exercise) alter neurogenesis. Neurogenesis was measured by examining the survival and fate of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-labeled proliferating cells in the DG of male Sprague–Dawley rats after acute (14 days) or chronic (30 days) RW access. Rats were assigned to experimental groups based on the number of hours that they had access to a RW over two days: 0 h, 4 h, 8 h, 24 h, and 48 h. After acute RW access, rats that had unlimited access to the RW on alternating days (24 h) had a stronger neurogenic response compared to those rats that ran modest distances (4 h, 8 h) or not at all (0 h). In contrast, following chronic RW access, rats that ran a moderate amount (4 h, 8 h) had significantly more surviving cells compared to 0 h, 24 h, and 48 h. Linear regression analysis established a negative relationship between running distance and surviving BrdU+ cells in the chronic RW access cohort ( R 2 = 0.40). These data demonstrate that in rats moderate amounts of RW exercise are superior to continuous daily RW exercise paradigms at promoting hippocampal neurogenesis in the long-term.

Previous studies show that many students with reading and spelling problems have a lack of progress in reading and spelling skills after years of special education services. The aim of the study is to evaluate the reading and spelling skills of Finnish children in grades 1 and 2 receiving part-time special education from special education teachers for reading and spelling difficulties (RSD) and for RSD with other learning difficulties. In this study, the focus is in the roles of the form and the amount of part-time special education in reading and spelling skills development. Of 152 children involved in the study, 98 received part-time special education for RSD, and 54 did not have RSD and did not receive special education. The results showed that the reading and spelling skills of students with RSD lagged behind age level and that students with overlapping difficulties exhibited even slower development. Small group education and a moderate amount of part-time special education (approximately 38 h...

A series of Ni–La/γ-Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by adopting the methods of isometric impregnation and microwave impregnation. The catalysts were characterized with XRD, BET, and SEM, respectively. Inspecting the effects of adding La and the methods of impregnation on the hydrogenation activity of catalysts. The results show that adding a moderate amount of La promotes the dispersing of Ni on the carrier, the methods of microwave impregnation weaks the interaction between Ni and the carrier further, inhibits the formation of NiAl2O4, and the activity of catalyst prepared by the methods of microwave impregnation was significantly higher than that prepared by the methods of isometric impregnation. The hydrogenation activity of the Ni–La/γ-Al2O3 (WB) dipped with n(Ni): n(La) = 4: 1, microwave irradiation time 30 min with power 600W as well as calcined at 400°C exhibited the best performance. The conversion rate is 91.21% with reaction conditions: T = 160°C, p = 0.8 MPa, air speed 5 h–1, n(H2): n(benzene) = 2: 1.

A growing body of work suggests that early motor experience affects development in unexpected domains. In the current study, children’s hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM) was measured at monthly intervals from 18 to 24 months of age (N=90). At 3 years of age, children’s language ability was assessed using the Preschool Language Scales 5th edition (PLS™-5; Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2011). Three distinct RDBM hand preference trajectories were identified using latent class growth analysis: 1) children with a left hand preference but a moderate amount of right hand use, 2) children with a right hand preference but a moderate amount of left hand use, and 3) children with a right hand preference and only a mild amount of left hand use. Stability over time within all three trajectories indicated that children did not change hand use patterns from 18 to 24 months. Children with the greatest amount of preferred (i.e., right) hand use demonstrated higher expressive language scores compared to children in both trajectories with moderate levels of non-preferred hand use. Children with the greatest amount of right hand use also had higher scores for receptive language compared to children with a right hand preference but moderate left hand use. Results support that consistency in handedness as measured by the amount of preferred hand use is related to distal language outcomes in development.

Berlin Remix is a computationally generative artwork that creates and presents a series of short films re-edited and re-mixed from the archetypal “City Film” documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Ruttman 1927). The “City Film” is an historical documentary genre. These City films thrived in the late 20s and 30s, and continue to this day. Each of them documented the daily life of an individual city. The central film in the development of this genre is Ruttman’s Berlin. Berlin Remix is a generative artwork that re-mixes the individual shots of the original film into a series of shorter films. Each of these shorter films differs from the others in specific content, cinematic style, or both. Each of the derived films shows a single facet or theme contained within the larger film. The final form of the artwork will run completely autonomously, generating the series of shorter films in real time. The artwork as exhibited at CSDH/SCHN 2019 required a moderate amount of human intervention to join the system’s output segments into short films. Résumé Le 'Berlin Remix' est une oeuvre d’art informatiquement générative qui crée et présente une série de films courts remodifiés et remixés venant du documentaire de l’archétype « film de ville » ('City Film') qui s’appelle 'Berlin : Symphony of a Great City' (Ruttman 1927). Le « film de ville » est un genre documentaire historique. Ces films de ville s’épanouissaient pendant la fin des années 1920 et 1930, et aujourd’hui encore. Le film central du développement de ce genre est celui de Ruttman, nommé Berlin. Le 'Berlin Remix' est une oeuvre d’art générative qui remixe les images individuelles du film original en série de films plus courts. Chacun de ces films plus courts varie l’un des autres selon le contexte spécifique, selon le style cinématographique, ou selon les deux à la fois. Chacun des films dérivés montre une facette ou un thème unique, confiné dans le film entier. La forme finale de cette oeuvre d’art fonctionnera de façon autonome, générant la série de films plus courts en temps réel. L’oeuvre d’art, comme exposé à 'CSDH/SCHN 2019', a exigé une quantité modérée d’intervention humaine afin de transformer la production de séquences du système en films courts. Mots clés: art vidéo; art générative; esthétics; cinématographique, film documentaire; média numérique

In this contribution, we introduce a novel approach to noise-robust acoustic echo cancellation employing a complex-valued Deep Neural Network (DNN) for postfiltering. In a first step, early linear echo components are removed using a double-talk robust adaptive filter. The residual signal is subsequently processed by the proposed post-filter (PF). Due to its complex-valued nature, the PF allows to sup-press unwanted signal components without introducing distortions to the near-end speaker. For training and evaluation, we exclusively use data from the ICASSP 2021 AEC challenge. Exploiting only a moderate amount of training data, we demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. Specifically, we show that the PF (i) benefits significantly from a preceding linear adaptive filter and (ii) significantly outperforms a conventional real-valued DNN-based PF.

> Different therapists have said different things [contradictory advice on pain with exercise]…and it makes you wonder which therapist to believe. Exercise is a proven treatment for managing at least some persistent pain, including musculoskeletal-related pain.1 2 But an area often overlooked is what type of pain and what intensity of pain should be associated with exercise. What would achieve the best results? No pain? A little pain? A moderate amount of pain? How does the patient judge what is ‘a little’ or ‘moderate’? How much pain is too much? Is there ‘good pain’ as patients often tell us when stretching or massaging a muscle, as well as ‘bad pain’ (presumably thought to be harmful)? Qualitative research tells us that many individuals with persistent pain are uncertain when it comes to pain and exercise.3 4 This is closely linked to pain-related fear and questions as to whether exercise is helpful or harmful. As one patient framed it, ‘Are you making it worse? And that’s the crux of it really…if this is hurting should I really be doing this?’.3 There are few …

We show that the phase II upgrade of the CMS tracking detector could enable the experiment to trigger on very low mass O(1 GeV) displaced muon pairs with minimal pT cuts. As a result, CMS can be competitive with LHCb when searching for low mass displaced exotics originating from heavy flavor decays. The method can also be applied to signatures without muons but with a moderate amount of missing transverse energy, HT or multiple displaced vertices in the event. We show that the phase II upgrade of the CMS tracking detector could enable the experiment to trigger on very low mass $\mathcal{O}(1\,\text{GeV})$ displaced muon pairs with minimal $p_T$ cuts. As a result, CMS can be competitive with LHCb when searching for low mass displaced exotics originating from heavy flavor decays. The method can also be applied to signatures without muons but with a moderate amount of MET, $H_T$ or multiple displaced vertices in the event.

User-guided deformable image registration (DIR) has allowed users to actively participate in the DIR process and is expected to improve DIR accuracy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the time required for and effect of user-guided DIR on registration accuracy for thoracic images among users. In this study, 4-dimensional computed tomographic images of 10 thoracic cancer patients were used. The dataset for these patients was provided by DIR-Lab (www.dir-lab.com) and included a coordinate list of anatomical landmarks (300 bronchial bifurcations). Four medical physicists from different institutions performed DIR between peak-inhale and peak-exhale images with/without the user-guided DIR tool, Reg Refine, implemented in MIM Maestro (MIM software, Cleveland, OH). DIR accuracy was quantified by using target registration errors (TREs) for 300 anatomical landmarks in each patient. The average TREs with user-guided DIR in the 10 images by the 4 medical physicists were 1.48, 1.80, 3.46, and 3.55 mm, respectively, whereas the TREs without user-guided DIR were 3.28, 3.45, 3.56, and 3.28 mm, respectively. The average times taken by the 4 physicists to use the user-guided DIR were 10.0, 6.7, 7.1, and 8.0 min, respectively. This study demonstrated that user-guided DIR can improve DIR accuracy and requires only a moderate amount of time (

Interdisciplinary collaborations, i.e., scholarly crossdomain collaborations have generated huge impact to society, and has been previously proved to exhibit domain skewness[20]. To illustrate, scholarly cross-domain collaborations seldom emerge between irrelevant scholarly domains. In this work we address a question to determine the possible existence of scholarly cross-domain collaborations, namely: "Are scholarly domains really crossable?" Using a real-world scholarly dataset, i.e., Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG)[1] with 126 million papers collected from 53,834 domains, we take the initiative to formalize a "crossability" quantification problem, where the "crossability" serves as an index that aims to evaluate the ability of two scientific domains to establish collaborations. In doing so, we propose two metrics, i.e., co-paper ratio and hierarchical distance, where the former one is the ratio of common papers in two domains to which in a single domain, and the later one is the difference of domains' levels according to their positions in the hierarchical structure. Interestingly, we observe a peak pattern, meaning that the influence of research work, i.e., number of citations, climbs to a peak when its domains' count goes to a certain number, after which the citation count decrease sharply. Our discovery indicates that a moderate amount of domain "crossability" helps to improve the impact of research work, which, however, could be weakened under excessive "crossability". With elaborately modeling, we reproduce this peak pattern and briefly discuss the reason of the existence of peak.

External optical feedback in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is found to influence its output intensity. We studied the effect of the amount of total output polarisation feedback and polarisation-selective feedback on the output intensities of a VCSEL for a low-resolution sampling and for long temporal duration. A $$40~\mu \hbox {s}$$ resolution time-series correlation analysis is performed for different feedback conditions and the characteristic dynamics is investigated. We found a correlated fluctuation in VCSEL output for a moderate amount of total feedback and polarised feedback. The period of such fluctuations is found to be reduced from total feedback to the polarised feedback of the system.

Background/Aim: Haemostatic dressings for the uniformed and rescue services are an integral part of life-saving equipment for controlling post-traumatic haemorrhage. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of active constituent substances and materials of haemostatic dressings on muscle tissue and muscle regeneration after traumatic injury. Materials and Methods: Three hemostatic dressing prototypes were analysed: OBR/G/S sponge: dressing material sponge made of Na-Ca chitosan/algal composite microfibers and nanofibers; OBR/MBT/S: tactic gauze modified with a polymer mixture of Na-Ca chitosan/algal composite microfibers and nanofibers, impregnated with a moderate amount of procoagulants (22.9 g/m(2)); and OBR/MS/S: seton gauze modified with a polymer mixture of Na-Ca chitosan/algal composite microfibers and nanofibers, impregnated with a moderate amount of procoagulants (18.0 g/m(2)), with chitosan (ChitoClearhqg 95) and sodium alginate (Protanal LF10/60 FT) as the coagulants. The experiment was conducted on 20 pigs which were euthanised 24 h, 7 or 14 days after wound dressing. Samples of porcine muscle tissue were subjected to qualitative histopathological analysis. Results: Histopathological analysis of muscle tissues from the experimental pigs revealed that the application of modified seton (OBR/MS/S) produced the most satisfactory results. The observed changes were similar on all dates that samples were collected and in all experimental groups, and minor differences in their extent were observed between groups. Regenerative processes were most advanced, and retrograde changes were least apparent in animals treated with OBR/MS/S. Conclusion: Modified seton (OBR/MS/S) induced the least tissue reaction and was most effective in promoting tissue regeneration after injury.

The health benefits of physical activity (PA) are well known. However, the association between an adequate amount of moderate–vigorous PA (MVPA) and clinical outcomes has limited evidence in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We assessed PA using a self-administered questionnaire. The amount of MVPA was categorized into four groups: none, low, moderate, and high (0, &lt, 7.5, 7.5–14.9, and 15.0–29.9 metabolic equivalent-hours/week, respectively). We analyzed the association between the amount of MVPA and clinical outcomes. Among a total of 1909 adults with CKD, adults with MVPA showed various beneficial outcomes compared to those with no MVPA in a Kaplan–Meier curve followed over a median of 5.9 years. In multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models, a low and a moderate amount of MVPA was associated with a lower risk of all-cause death. A moderate amount of MVPA was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events. A high amount of MVPA was associated with a lower risk of end-stage kidney disease in ESKD in 1324 adults with eGFR &lt, 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. Age and sex modified the relationships between MVPA and clinical outcomes. MVPA is associated with various beneficial outcomes across the amount of MVPA. PA plans should be tailored for individual adults with CKD.

We investigated the effect of adding small amounts of hydrogen during DC magnetron sputtering of SnO x films followed by annealing in a nitrogen atmosphere at temperatures below the instability of SnO. Hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed a difference in the initial Sn content in the as-deposited samples, which suggests an increased number of V Sn vacancies. This led to the formation of V Sn -H complexes, resulting in a doubling of the concentration of holes from 5.89 × 1017 cm−3 to 1.38 × 1018 cm−3 and a slight increase in the mobility from 1.17 cm2/(Vs) to 1.45 cm2/(Vs) after annealing. Thermal desorption spectroscopy revealed increased desorption of hydroxyl groups after the addition of hydrogen, indicating that hydrogen presence in the film as OH bonds may be the reason for the undesired increase in SnO2 content and raising of the crystallization point. The average transmittance of the hydrogen-added sample was 10% greater than that of the hydrogen-free sample.

Food gels prepared from the water extract of fish scales (WEFS) are described in this study. The effects of WEFS, sucrose, and NaCl concentration on gel formation and stability, gel texture, and gel sensory attributes were evaluated. The results indicated that an increase in WEFS concentration led to increases in the formation rate, stability, and texture of the gel. Addition of a moderate amount of sucrose (2%–3%, w/v) and NaCl (0.4%–0.6%, w/v) improved the stability, gumminess, chewiness, and cohesiveness of the gel. However, the addition of an excessive amount of sucrose (>4%, w/v) and NaCl (>0.8%, w/v) decreased the stability, gel strength, adhesiveness, and springiness of the gel. The sensory attributes of fish scales (FS) gels were mainly affected by WEFS concentration. On the basis of combined textural analysis and sensory evaluation, the FS gels formed with 4% WEFS, 3% sucrose, or 0.4% NaCl was proposed in this study. The gel microstructure and water distribution obviously showed an apparent variation, together with a change in the structure of FS gels. Competing hydrophilic forces and electrostatic interactions varied with sucrose and NaCl concentration, altering the structure and water distribution of FS gels.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to obtain data on interrater repeatability of the motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) of the ulnar nerve of different segments, ulnar distal motor latency (DML), and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitudes. DESIGN Twenty-four healthy volunteers were examined in consecutive order. Ulnar motor NCV of different segments, ulnar DML, and CMAP amplitudes were determined. Based on a randomization list of various combinations and sequences, 1 of 3 examiners performed the first measurement. A second examiner repeated the evaluation within half an hour. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the first and second measurements for all parameters. For the ulnar motor NCV of the different segments, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ranged from 0.38 to 0.51, and the coefficient of repeatability (CR) ranged from 8.0 to 11.6 m/s. For the ulnar DML, the ICC was 0.44, and the CR was 0.49 millisecond. For the CMAP amplitudes at the different stimulation sites, the ICC ranged from 0.53 to 0.76, and the CR ranged from 1.5 to 2.3 mV. CONCLUSIONS A moderate amount of interrater variability of the ulnar motor NCV must be taken into account. Compared with the CMAP amplitudes, the interrater repeatability of the ulnar motor NCV is poorer.

Peer-reviewed publications are one way for researchers to communicate information about service delivery to rehabilitation counselors. However, little is known about rehabilitation counselors’ actual use of peer-reviewed publications. Thus, the current research explored the extent to which rehabilitation counselors ( N = 334) read and use peer-reviewed publications, factors associated with their reading and using peer-reviewed publications, and several items assessing their judgments about peer-reviewed publications. Overall, we found that rehabilitation counselors used peer-reviewed publications a moderate amount, held generally positive judgments about peer-reviewed publications, and reported wanting to use information from peer-reviewed publications with a greater percentage of clients than they actually did. We also found that counselors’ reading and using of peer-reviewed publications increased as counselor opinions of peer-reviewed publications were more positive and as counselors perceived their professional organizations, universities, agencies, and supervisors encouraged reading and using peer-reviewed publication. Collectively, we believe the current study is useful for researchers to generate and communicate research to rehabilitation counselors.

Introduction The effects of training content consisting of examples and/or non-examples was studied on the acquisition of safety-related skills. Method Participants (N = 160) were randomly assigned to first receive computer-based training on office ergonomics that included either no examples of safe or at-risk postures, safe examples only, at-risk examples only, or both safe and at-risk examples. Participants then attempted to classify as safe or at-risk various postures depicted in short video clips and demonstrate with their own posture the range of safe postures. Results Groups that were trained with both safe and at-risk examples showed greater classification accuracy and less error in their demonstration of safe postures. Training with only safe or at-risk examples resulted in a moderate amount of error and a consistent underestimation of risk. Conclusion Training content consisting of both examples and non-examples improved acquisition of safety-related skills. Practical applications The strategic selection of training content may improve identification of risks and safe work practices.

Social support studies often focus on psychological outcomes for the support recipient and also presume potential support providers who will attempt to provide support in the first place. Therefore, the negative relational outcomes associated with not receiving emotional support when support is expected (nonsupport) are an understudied topic. Instances of nonsupport were compared to various emotional support messages on relational and psychological outcomes to understand how nonsupport compares against support messages of varying quality. Two hundred twenty-four women with breast cancer were asked to think of a person expected to provide emotional support if they disclosed their diagnosis on social media. Participants were given either a hypothetical support message from this person or told the person provided no message even though a message was expected. Dunnett's t tests were used to analyze the nonsupport condition against low, moderate, and highly person-centered support messages. Providing no emotional support message (nonsupport) creates low levels of emotional improvement and high levels of negative relational ramifications similar to low person-centered messages. Moreover, only participants receiving the low person-centered message agreed on average they would rather have received no message at all instead. Because low person-centered messages and saying nothing whatsoever both create negative relational ramifications, support providers should strive to communicate emotional support messages with at least a moderate amount of person-centeredness. These findings further suggest those who are expected to provide emotional support cannot dodge this obligation since nonsupport is shown to have negative relational outcomes to low person-centered support messages.

Purpose No studies quantify the labor market disparities between nurses with and without activity difficulties (physical impairment or disability). We explore disparate treatment of nurses with activity difficulties at three margins of the labor market: the ability to get a job, the relative wage rate offered once a nurse has a job, and the annual hours of work given that wage rate. Design Key variables from the American Community Survey (ACS) were analyzed, including basic demographic information, wages, hours of work, and employment status of registered nurses from 2006 to 2014. Findings Although there is relatively little disparity in hourly wages, there is enormous disparity in the disabled's employment and hours of work opportunities, and hence a moderate amount of disparity in annual wages. Conclusions This has significant implications for the nursing labor force, particularly as the nursing workforce continues to age and physical limitations or disabilities increase by 15-fold from 25 to 65 years of age. Clinical Relevance Physical or psychological difficulties increase sharply over the course of a nurse's career, and employers must heighten efforts to facilitate an aging workforce and provide appropriate job accommodations for nurses with activity limitations.

Primary care physicians are often the first contact for people with mental health concerns. Moreover, many patients with mental health concerns are parents caring for dependent children. The aim of this study was to investigate the family focused practices of a group of primary care physicians when working with patients who are parents and experience mental health concerns. A sequential mixed method design (questionnaire followed by interviews) was employed, early 2015, in general medical settings across six Australian states. Twenty one primary care physicians (12 female, 9 male) across different medical settings completed the Family Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire; nine of these were interviewed. Participants reported a moderate amount of family focused practice when working with patients who are parents with mental health issues. Many acknowledged the importance of working with patients on family issues but reported barriers in doing so. Clear guidelines, including the recording of parenting status, need to be in place for primary care physicians working with patients who are parents.

We consider a risk-aware forest owner and electricity producer evaluating the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)-based offsets with a benefit-sharing mechanism under uncertain CO2CO2 prices. For a range of CO2CO2 prices and respective risks perceived by the forest owner (seller) and electricity producer (buyer), we apply a model of fair (indifference) pricing. Parties’ risk preferences are reflected by exponential utility functions. The potentially contracted amounts of REDD offsets are analyzed under various risk preferences and for different benefit-sharing opportunities. Our results show that a risk-averse attitude considerably increases the contracted offset amounts (compared to risk-neutral case) and, therefore, creates a higher potential for REDD implementation. We demonstrate possible situations, when parties could agree on a certain range of REDD contracts, e.g. smaller amounts of REDD offsets are traded for higher prices, and larger amounts – for lower prices, although contracting a moderate amount at a moderate price is impossible. The suggested benefit-sharing mechanism can help increase contracted offset amounts. Our modeling results highlight two ways to promote higher REDD participation: (i) strengthening the carbon price signal to reveal risk-averse behavior of energy producers, and (ii) implementing the mechanism of benefit/risk sharing between the REDD consumer and supplier.

The study of women and war is something which has developed steadily in recent decades, with several works on military philanthropy and military womenfolk in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries having being produced in Britain. Yet in Ireland there persists an absence of comparable dedicated work, in spite of a moderate amount of recent research on Irish philanthropy in the same period. By taking the Crimean War as a case study, this essay will illustrate what happened to the army wives in Ireland during that conflict, how this related to the situation in the broader United Kingdom and what it tells us about such women in Ireland in the nineteenth century. This will be done through the use of a selection of contemporary newspapers, parliamentary reports and the records of the British military authority in Ireland, but also through the interrogation of the surviving published reports of the Central Association. Ultimately this essay will show that in spite of the scale of hardships that they fac...

Human mercaptoalbumin (HMA) is a reduced form of albumin that is associated with cardiovascular disease in dialysis patients. Albumin-leaky hemodialysis (HD) is increasingly recognized as a gold standard therapy because it is correlated with better prognosis compared to conventional HD. However, albumin-leaky HD induces low serum albumin concentration because of albumin leakage, which is a classical risk factor for mortality. The aim of this study was to explain the preferable prognosis in patients undergoing albumin-leaky HD with low serum albumin concentration. Ten HD patients were enrolled. They were preconditioned with albumin-non-leaky HD (mean albumin leakage: 1.0 g) for 2 months. Subsequently, albumin-leaky HD (9.1 g) was performed for 6 months, followed by relatively non-leaky HD (within 3.0 g). The ratio and level of HMA were evaluated. The amount of albumin leakage was related to the ratio of HMA, and inversely correlated with serum albumin concentration. The level of HMA was maintained regardless of albumin leakage. Regarding HMA level, a moderate amount of albumin leakage was acceptable. A stably maintained HMA level in albumin-leaky HD patients can contribute to preferable prognosis even if they have low serum albumin concentration.

Case summary A 10-year-old spayed female Russian Blue cat was presented with a 3-month history of excessive otic discharge and scratching, only involving the right ear. Other than a moderate amount of ceruminous exudate present within the right ear on video-otoscopic examination, there were no other cutaneous abnormalities. The cat was deemed to be otherwise in good health based on physical examination and several laboratory profiles. A diagnosis of otodemodicosis was determined due to the presence of a large number of Demodex cati mites retrieved from cerumen. Treatment consisted only of monthly topical application of sarolaner/selamectin to the nape of the neck with a marked reduction in mite counts and otic pruritus after a single dose. Complete resolution was achieved after a total of four doses. Relevance and novel information This is the first report to describe the resolution of mite infestation owing to D cati after treatment with a sarolaner-containing spot-on product. In addition, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first report of any isoxazoline product used in the successful treatment of demodicosis affecting the ear canal. In general, there is a lack of reports describing safe and effective treatments for feline otodemodicosis. Topically applied sarolaner/selamectin resulted in resolution of mites while avoiding any potential ototoxic events from medications applied directly into the ear, and provided a treatment that was easier to apply than oral or injectable macrocyclic lactones.

Recently, first methods for holiday detection from unsupervised low-resolution smart metering data have been presented. However, due to the unsupervised nature of the problem, previous work only applied the algorithms on a few typical cases and lacks a systematic validation. This paper systematically validates the existing algorithm by visual inspection and shows that numerous cases exist, where implicit assumptions are not met and the methods fail. Moreover, it proposes a new, very simple rule-based method which is in principle able to overcome these problems. This method should be seen as a first step towards improvement, since it is not automated and needs a moderate amount of human intervention for each household.

Persistent semantic identity in WordNetAlthough rarely studied, the persistence of semantic identity in the WordNet lexical database is crucial for the interoperability of all the resources that use WordNet data. The present study investigates the stability of the two primary entities of the WordNet database (the word senses and the synonym sets), by following their respective identifiers (the sense keys and the synset offsets) across all the versions released between 1995 and 2012, while also considering "drifts" of identical definitions and semantic relations. Contrary to expectations, 94.4% of the WordNet 1.5 synsets still persisted in the latest 2012 version, compared to only 89.1% of the corresponding sense keys. Meanwhile, the splits and merges between synonym sets remained few and simple. These results are presented in tables that allow to estimate the lexicographic effort needed for updating WordNet-based resources to newer WordNet versions. We discuss the specific challenges faced by both the dominant synset-based mapping paradigm (a moderate amount of split synsets), and the recommended sense key-based approach (very few identity violations), and conclude that stable synset identifiers are viable, but need to be complemented by stable sense keys in order to adequately handle the split synonym sets. Trwała tożsamość semantyczna w WordNecieChociaż rzadko badana, trwałość tożsamości semantycznej w leksykalnej bazie danych WordNet ma kluczowe znaczenie dla interoperacyjności wszystkich zasobów korzystających z danych WordNetowych. W niniejszej pracy zbadano stabilność dwóch podstawowych elementów bazy danych WordNet (jednostek leksykalnych i synsetów – zbiorów synonimicznych jednostek leksykalnych), poprzez prześledzenie ich identyfikatorów (tj. identyfikatorów jednostek i identyfikatorów synsetów) we wszystkich wersjach wydanych w latach 1995-2012. Wzięto również pod uwagę przesunięcia identycznych definicji i relacji semantycznych. Wbrew oczekiwaniom, 94,4% synsetów WordNetu 1.5 zachowało się w najnowszej wersji z 2012 r., w porównaniu do 89,1% odpowiadających im identyfikatorów jednostek. Tymczasem podziały i połączenia pomiędzy synsetami pozostały proste i nieliczne. Wyniki te przedstawiono w tabelach, które pozwalają oszacować wysiłek leksykograficzny potrzebny do aktualizacji zasobów opartych o WordNet do nowszych wersji WordNetu. Omawiamy konkretne wyzwania, przed którymi stoi zarówno dominujący paradygmat rzutowania synsetów (umiarkowana liczba podzielonych synsetów), jak i zalecane podejście oparte na identyfikatorach jednostek (bardzo niewiele naruszeń tożsamości) i stwierdzamy, że można stworzyć stabilne identyfikatory synsetów, ale muszą one iść w parze ze stabilnymi identyfikatorami jednostek, aby odpowiednio zająć się podzielonymi synsetami.

A 17-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with an inability to belch, while experiencing chest gurgling noises, and severe abdominal bloating. She reported having these symptoms all her life. A timed barium esophagogram revealed a moderate amount of bubbles in the esophagus and gastric fundus, which significantly increased after the examination. High resolution manometry revealed that the basal upper esophageal sphincter pressure increased with a rise in the cervical esophageal pressure. A pathological inability to belch is rare; at present, no specific name exists to describe the disorder. Further research is needed in this unexplored field.

Recently, J. Scheinkman and B. Le Baron have analyzed a time series of weekly stock returns from the point of view of nonlinear dynamics. In particular, using the Grassberger-Procaccia algorithm, they found the data to be compatible with a deterministic dynamical system of low dimension perturbed by a moderate amount of noise. This chapter analyses the same time series, and obtain an estimate of Lyapunov exponents, that is, rates of exponential growth of small perturbations to initial conditions. It also analyzes the data for temporal homogeneity by producing a recurrence plot to obtain this plot the weekly returns time series is first used to generate a six-dimensional trajectory by the time-delay method. The recurrence plot, apart form a short exceptional period near the beginning of the time series, appears reasonably uniform. This seems to indicate that there is not much drift–in the more than twenty years studied–for the behavior of weekly returns over a few weeks.

Adversities refer to events that are characterized by perceived or actual threat to human functioning. Often considered deleterious for health and well-being, recent work supports an alternative picture of the effects of adversity on human functioning, such that a moderate amount of adversity - when compared with none or high levels - can be beneficial. We extend this body of work in the current study by considering the breadth or type of adversities experienced simultaneously (referred to as polyadversity), with a focus on individual profiles of lifetime adversities. Latent class analysis was employed to explore different configurations of lifetime adversity experiences in two independent samples and examine how these latent classes differed with regard to resilience resources (i.e., optimism, hope, self-efficacy, and bounce-back ability). University students (N = 348) and members from the broader community (N = 1,506) completed measures of lifetime adversity exposure and resilience resources. Three polyadversity classes were revealed in each sample, with both producing a high and a low polyadversity class. The third class differed between samples; in the student sample, this class represented experiences of vicarious adversity, whereas in the community sample, it represented moderate levels of exposure to adversity. Support for the adaptive nature of a moderate amount of adversity exposure was found in the community sample but not in the student sample. This study produces initial evidence of how lifetime adversity experiences group together and how class membership is related to resilience resources.