Acoustic emphasis in four year olds

Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children’s spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were elicited from 4 year olds who were asked to describe events in a video. Children were found to place more acoustic prominence both on ‘new’ words and on words that were ‘given’ but had shifted to a more accessible position within the discourse. This effect of accessibility concurs with recent studies of adult speech. We conclude that, by age four, children show appropriate, adult-like use of acoustic prominence, suggesting sensitivity to a variety of discourse distinctions

The puzzling reliability of the Force Concept Inventory

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has influenced the development of many research-based pedagogies. However, no data exists on the FCI’s internal consistency or test-retest reliability. The FCI was administered twice to one hundred students during the first week of classes in an electricity and magnetism course with no review of mechanics between test administrations. High Kuder–Richardson reliability coefficient values, which estimate the average correlation of scores obtained on all possible halves of the test, suggest strong internal consistency. However, 31% of the responses changed from test to retest, suggesting weak reliability for individual questions. A chi-square analysis shows that change in responses was neither consistent nor completely random. The puzzling conclusion is that although individual FCI responses are not reliable, the FCI total score is highly reliable

The puzzling reliability of the Force Concept Inventory

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has influenced the development of many research-based pedagogies. However, no data exists on the FCI’s internal consistency or test-retest reliability. The FCI was administered twice to one hundred students during the first week of classes in an electricity and magnetism course with no review of mechanics between test administrations. High Kuder–Richardson reliability coefficient values, which estimate the average correlation of scores obtained on all possible halves of the test, suggest strong internal consistency. However, 31% of the responses changed from test to retest, suggesting weak reliability for individual questions. A chi-square analysis shows that change in responses was neither consistent nor completely random. The puzzling conclusion is that although individual FCI responses are not reliable, the FCI total score is highly reliable

When all computers shut down: the clinical impact of a major cyber-attack on a general hospital

ImportanceHealthcare organizations operate in a data-rich environment and depend on digital computerized systems; thus, they may be exposed to cyber threats. Indeed, one of the most vulnerable sectors to hacks and malware is healthcare. However, the impact of cyberattacks on healthcare organizations remains under-investigated.ObjectiveThis study aims to describe a major attack on an entire medical center that resulted in a complete shutdown of all computer systems and to identify the critical actions required to resume regular operations.SettingThis study was conducted on a public, general, and acute care referral university teaching hospital.MethodsWe report the different recovery measures on various hospital clinical activities and their impact on clinical work.ResultsThe system malfunction of hospital computers did not reduce the number of heart catheterizations, births, or outpatient clinic visits. However, a sharp drop in surgical activities, emergency room visits, and total hospital occupancy was observed immediately and during the first postattack week. A gradual increase in all clinical activities was detected starting in the second week after the attack, with a significant increase of 30% associated with the restoration of the electronic medical records (EMR) and laboratory module and a 50% increase associated with the return of the imaging module archiving. One limitation of the present study is that, due to its retrospective design, there were no data regarding the number of elective internal care hospitalizations that were considered crucial.Conclusions and relevanceThe risk of ransomware cyberattacks is growing. Healthcare systems at all levels of the hospital should be aware of this threat and implement protocols should this catastrophic event occur. Careful evaluation of steady computer system recovery weekly enables vital hospital function, even under a major cyberattack. The restoration of EMR, laboratory systems, and imaging archiving modules was found to be the most significant factor that allowed the return to normal clinical hospital work

Marburg virus survivor immune responses are Th1 skewed with limited neutralizing antibody responses.

Until recently, immune responses in filovirus survivors remained poorly understood. Early studies revealed IgM and IgG responses to infection with various filoviruses, but recent outbreaks have greatly expanded our understanding of filovirus immune responses. Immune responses in survivors of Ebola virus (EBOV) and Sudan virus (SUDV) infections have provided the most insight, with T cell responses as well as detailed antibody responses having been characterized. Immune responses to Marburg virus (MARV), however, remain almost entirely uncharacterized. We report that immune responses in MARV survivors share characteristics with EBOV and SUDV infections but have some distinct differences. MARV survivors developed multivariate CD4+ T cell responses but limited CD8+ T cell responses, more in keeping with SUDV survivors than EBOV survivors. In stark contrast to SUDV survivors, rare neutralizing antibody responses in MARV survivors diminished rapidly after the outbreak. These results warrant serious consideration for any vaccine or therapeutic that seeks to be broadly protective, as different filoviruses may require different immune responses to achieve immunity

The interaction of visual and linguistic saliency during syntactic ambiguity resolution

Psycholinguistic research using the visual world paradigm has shown that the pro-cessing of sentences is constrained by the visual context in which they occur. Re-cently, there has been growing interest on the interactions observed when both lan-guage and vision provide relevant information during sentence processing. In three visual world experiments on syntactic ambiguity resolution, we investigate how vi-sual and linguistic information influence the interpretation of ambiguous sentences. We hypothesize that (1) visual and linguistic information both constrain which in-terpretation is pursued by the sentence processor, and (2) the two types of informa-tion act upon the interpretation of the sentence at different points during processing. In Experiment 1, we show that visual saliency is utilized to anticipate the upcoming arguments of a verb. In Experiment 2, we operationalize linguistic saliency using intonational breaks and demonstrate that these give prominence to linguistic refer-ents. These results confirm prediction (1). In Experiment 3, we manipulate visual and linguistic saliency together and find that both types of information are used, but at different points in the sentence, to incrementally update its current interpre-tation. This finding is consistent with prediction (2). Overall, our results suggest an adaptive processing architecture in which different types of information are used when they become available, optimizing different aspects of situated language pro-cessing

Selectively modulating emotional memory reconsolidation in humans: Does propranolol affect non-fear, non-craving emotional memory?

Introduction: Reconsolidation theory postulates that following retrieval, previously consolidated memories enter a state of lability prior to being reconsolidated. Additionally, the administration of certain pharmacological agents (e.g., the beta-blocker propranolol) during the period of memory reactivation (i.e. recall) is believed to interfere with and block at least in part the reconsolidation process in disorders with maladaptive and pathological emotional memories. However, while the main emotion examined in previous studies was fear or craving, it remains unclear whether other types of emotion can be disrupted. In this study, we aimed to elucidate whether these observed effects do in fact extend to memories linked to non-fear, non-craving emotions in humans. Methods: We elicited joy, fear, sadness, disgust and anger in 45 healthy adults by exposing them to visual stimuli mainly drawn from the IAPS (International Affective Picture System). Using a pre/post placebo-controlled randomized study design, we tested whether propranolol can block consolidation and/or reconsolidation of other forms of emotional memories as categorized by each participant according to emotion-type. Results: A series of 2 way, mixed design ANOVAs, with Group as a between subjects factor and Emotion-type as a within subjects factor were performed for primary and secondary endpoints. Consolidated and Reconsolidated image recognition data yielded a significant effect of Emotion-type, F(5, 185) = 26.13, p < 0.001, and F(5, 185) = 16.11, p < 0.001, respectively, with significant effects within each Group. Mean differences in subjective emotional arousal ratings between T2 and T1 yielded a significant Group x Emotion-type interaction, F(10, 185) = 2.84, p < 0.01. Simple main effect tests conducted between groups indicated that the consolidation blockade effects of propranolol for images eliciting fear was significantly greater than placebo, F(2, 189) = 6.04, p < 0.01. No such significant results were observed for anger- or joy-related images. Similarly, mean differences in subjective emotional arousal ratings between T3 and T1 did not yield any significant results. Conclusion: Overall, propranolol was associated with a significant increase in arousal difference over time to emotional stimuli for fear-related images, as compared to neutral images, as had been previously demonstrated. This demonstrates that propranolol may, in fact, disrupt the consolidation of the emotional component of a fear-related memory. Furthermore, we found no evidence for propranolol affecting the consolidation of the declarative component of emotional memory, including those related to fear (previously shown) or sadness (not yet shown). Unlike other investigators, we were unable to demonstrate a disruptive effect of propranolol on emotional memory reconsolidation. This study was designed to evaluate whether propranolol can modulate the consolidation and reconsolidation of emotional memories unrelated to fear or craving. However, we saw no effects on these memories. Various explanations for this finding are discussed.Introduction: La théorie de la reconsolidation postule que, suite à leur récupération, les souvenirs précédemment consolidés entrent dans un état d'instabilité avant d'être reconsolidés. En outre, l'administration de certains agents pharmacologiques (par exemple, le bêta-bloquant propranolol) pendant la période de réactivation peut interférer avec le processus de reconsolidation de souvenirs émotionnels inadaptés et pathologiques. Cependant, alors que l'émotion principale examinée dans des études antérieures était la peur ou le désir de consommer ('craving’), il reste à élucider si d'autres types d'émotions peuvent être affectées. Dans cette étude, nous cherchons à élucider si ces effets observés s’étendent en fait à des souvenirs non liés à la peur ou au désir de consommer, chez les humains. Méthode: Nous avons suscité la joie, la peur, la tristesse, le dégout et la colère chez 45 adultes sains en les exposant à des stimuli visuels principalement tirées de l'IAPS (International Affective Picture System). Dans cette une étude pré/post randomisée en double-issu incluant un groupe placébo, nous testons si le propranolol peut bloquer la consolidation et/ou la reconsolidation d'autres types de souvenirs émotionnels, tels que classés par chaque participant en fonction du type d’émotion qu’ils ressentent subjectivement. Résultats: Une série d’ANOVAs, avec le groupe comme un facteur inter-sujets et Type d’Émotion comme un facteur intra-sujets, ont été effectuées afin de tester nos hypothèses primaires et secondaires. Le Type d’Émotion a démontré un effet significatif pour les données d’identification d'image consolidées et reconsolidées, F(5, 185) = 26.13, p < 0,001, et F(5, 185) = 16.11, p < 0,001, respectivement, avec des effets significatifs au sein de chaque groupe. L’analyse des moyennes de différences de stimulations émotionnelles subjectives entre T2 et T1 a produit une interaction significative Groupe X Type d’Émotion, F(10, 185) = 2,84, p <0,01. Les tests d’effets principaux simples menés entre les groupes ont indiqué que le propranolol perturbe la consolidation des images suscitant la peur était significativement plus élevée que le placebo, F(2, 189) = 6,04, p < 0,01. Aucun de ces résultats significatifs n’ont été observés pour les images liées à la colère ou la joie. De même, l’analyse des moyennes de différences de stimulations émotionnelles subjectives entre T3 et T1 n'a donné aucuns résultats significatifs. Conclusion: Au fil des séances, le propranolol a augmenté la stimulation émotionnelle pour les images liées à la peur, par rapport aux images neutres, comme cela a été démontré précédemment. Cela démontre que le propranolol peut, en effet, perturber la consolidation de la composante émotionnelle d’une mémoire liée à la peur. En outre, le propranolol n’a pas affecté significativement la consolidation de la composante déclarative d’une mémoire émotionnelle, y compris ceux liés à la peur (connu) ou la tristesse (inconnu). En ce qui concerne la reconsolidation de la mémoire, nous avons été incapables de démontrer un effet perturbateur du propranolol sur la mémoire émotionnelle. Cette étude a été conçue pour évaluer si le propranolol peut moduler la consolidation et la reconsolidation des souvenirs émotionnels non liées à la peur ou l’envie. Toutefois, étant donné la présence probable de diverses lacunes expérimentales mentionnées dans ce texte, ses effets sur la mémoire émotionnelle non liée à la peur ou l’envie demeurent inconnus

Generalized Longest Path Problems

The longest simple path and snake-in-a-box are combinatorial search problems of considerable research interest. We create a common framework of longest constrained path in a graph that contains these two problems, as well as other interesting maximum path problems, as special cases. We analyze properties of this general framework, produce bounds on the path length that can be used as admissible heuristics for all problem types therein. For the special cases of longest simple path and snakes, these heuristics are shown to reduce the number of expansions when searching for a maximal path, which in some cases leads to reduced search time despite the significant overhead of computing these heuristics

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Combining color and depth for enhanced image segmentation and retargeting

Abstract As depth cameras become more popular, pixel depth information becomes easier to obtain. This information can clearly enhance many image processing applications. However, combining depth and color information is not straightforward as these two signals can have different noise characteristics, differences in resolution, and their boundaries do not generally agree. We present a technique that combines depth and color image information from real devices in synergy. In particular, we focus on combining them to improve image segmentation. We use color information to fill and clean depth and use depth to enhance color image segmentation. We demonstrate the utility of the combined segmentation for extracting layers and present a novel image retargeting algorithm for layered images

Can laboratory evaluation differentiate between coronavirus disease-2019, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus infections? A retrospective cohort study

Aim To identify clinical and laboratory parameters that can assist in the differential diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we obtained basic demographics and laboratory data from all 685 hospitalized patients confirmed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza virus, or RSV from 2018 to 2020. A multiple logistic regression was employed to investigate the relationship between COVID19 and laboratory parameters. Results SARS-CoV-2 patients were significantly younger than RSV (P=0.001) and influenza virus (P=0.022) patients. SARS-CoV-2 patients also displayed a significant male predominance over influenza virus patients (P=0.047). They also had significantly lower white blood cell count (median 6.3×106 cells/μ) compared with influenza virus (P<0.001) and RSV (P=0.001) patients. Differences were also observed in other laboratory values but were insignificant in a multivariate analysis. Conclusions Male sex, younger age, and low white blood cell count can assist in the diagnosis of COVID-19 over other viral infections. However, the differences between the groups were not substantial enough and would probably not suffice to distinguish between the viral illnesses in the emergency departmen