Designing real-time, continuous emotion annotation techniques for 360° VR videos

With the increasing availability of head-mounted displays (HMDs) that show immersive 360° VR content, it is important to understand to what extent these immersive experiences can evoke emotions. Typically to collect emotion ground truth labels, users rate videos through post-experience self-reports that are discrete in nature. However, post-stimuli self-reports are temporally imprecise, especially after watching 360° videos. In this work, we design six continuous emotion annotation techniques for the Oculus Rift HMD aimed at minimizing workload and distraction. Based on a co-design session with six experts, we contribute HaloLight and DotSize, two continuous annotation methods deemed unobtrusive and easy to understand. We discuss the next challenges for evaluating the usability of these techniques, and reliability of continuous annotations

Effects of Exercise on Immune Responses to Vaccination in Chronically Stressed Mice

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that exercise has been related with strengthened vaccine-induced immune responses and chronic stress decreases immune function. This study aims to determine whether exercise can alleviate chronic stress-induced attenuation of vaccination responses in mice. Methods: C57BL/6 mice, aged 7 weeks old, were randomly assigned: control (CTRL, n=9), sedentary (SED, n=7), eccentric exercise (ECC, n=9), or voluntary wheel running (VWR, n=10) group. SED, ECC, and VWR mice received restraint stress for 6 hours/day, 5 days/week for 3 weeks. CTRL mice did not receive restraint stress. ECC mice exercised running downhill at -20% grade at 17m/min for 45 min. VWR mice voluntarily ran on a telemetered wheel. All groups received an OVA vaccination in two phases: first a sensitization phase with an intramuscular vaccination post 1-week of stress in the gastrocnemius muscle, a second intradermal vaccination in the ear post 3-weeks of stress. Swelling in the ear was measured to determine the proportional delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction as part of the cell-mediated immune response (recruitment of memory T cells and effector cells) to the vaccine. Blood from the retro-orbital vein was collected pre-vaccination, 1wk, 2wk and 4wk post-vaccination for antibody responses. Results: In this study, there was a trend in increased humoral immunity, in regards to IgM and IgG antibody titers in the exercised groups. This study did not show any significant differences in cell-mediated immunity (indicated with delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH)), with respect to the effect of exercise on chronic stress. Conclusion: Both acute eccentric exercise and voluntary wheel exercise training had a tendency to attenuate stress-induced reductions in antibody responses, but not cell-mediated responses. Further experiments are required to determine the precise significance of exercise’s effects, as well as the determination of the underlying mechanisms.Ope

The role of leadership in implementing lean manufacturing

It is widely accepted that for the successful implementation of lean manufacturing, the senior management commitment is of great importance. However, the lean journey is usually a long one, and eventually management commitment creeps. Furthermore, the involvement of employees in daily improvements is also critical for the success of implementation. Lean leadership can be considered as a way of sustaining and improving the employee performance in lean production systems. In the present study, a thorough literature review is presented focusing in reviewing the principles of lean leadership and the practices that can lead in improving the employee performance. Furthermore, the characteristics and qualities of lean leader are discussed Paper originally presented at Manufacturing Systems 4.0 – Proceedings of the 50th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, held 3 – 5 May, 2017, Taichung City, Taiwan

The depression in visual impairment trial (DEPVIT): trial design and protocol

<b>Background</b> The prevalence of depression in people with a visual disability is high but screening for depression and referral for treatment is not yet an integral part of visual rehabilitation service provision. One reason for this may be that there is no good evidence about the effectiveness of treatments in this patient group. This study is the first to evaluate the effect of depression treatments on people with a visual impairment and co morbid depression.<p></p> <b>Methods/design</b> The study is an exploratory, multicentre, individually randomised waiting list controlled trial. Participants will be randomised to receive Problem Solving Therapy (PST), a ‘referral to the GP’ requesting treatment according to the NICE’s ‘stepped care’ recommendations or the waiting list arm of the trial. The primary outcome measure is change (from randomisation) in depressive symptoms as measured by the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI-II) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes include change in depressive symptoms at 3 months, change in visual function as measured with the near vision subscale of the VFQ-48 and 7 item NEI-VFQ at 3 and 6 months, change in generic health related quality of life (EQ5D), the costs associated with PST, estimates of incremental cost effectiveness, and recruitment rate estimation.<p></p> <b>Discussion</b> Depression is prevalent in people with disabling visual impairment. This exploratory study will establish depression screening and referral for treatment in visual rehabilitation clinics in the UK. It will be the first to explore the efficacy of PST and the effectiveness of NICE’s ‘stepped care’ approach to the treatment of depression in people with a visual impairment.<p></p&gt

Babesiosis in Southeastern, Central and Northeastern Europe: An Emerging and Re-Emerging Tick-Borne Disease of Humans and Animals

There is now considerable evidence that in Europe, babesiosis is an emerging infectious disease, with some of the causative species spreading as a consequence of the increasing range of their tick vector hosts. In this review, we summarize both the historic records and recent findings on the occurrence and incidence of babesiosis in 20 European countries located in southeastern Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia), central Europe (Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland), and northern and northeastern Europe (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway), identified in humans and selected species of domesticated animals (cats, dogs, horses, and cattle). Recorded cases of human babesiosis are still rare, but their number is expected to rise in the coming years. This is because of the widespread and longer seasonal activity of Ixodes ricinus as a result of climate change and because of the more extensive use of better molecular diagnostic methods. Bovine babesiosis has a re-emerging potential because of the likely loss of herd immunity, while canine babesiosis is rapidly expanding in central and northeastern Europe, its occurrence correlating with the rapid, successful expansion of the ornate dog tick (Dermacentor reticulatus) populations in Europe. Taken together, our analysis of the available reports shows clear evidence of an increasing annual incidence of babesiosis across Europe in both humans and animals that is changing in line with similar increases in the incidence of other tick-borne diseases. This situation is of major concern, and we recommend more extensive and frequent, standardized monitoring using a “One Health” approach

Annual cycle observations of aerosols capable of ice formation in central Arctic clouds

The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, prompting glacial melt, permafrost thaw, and sea ice decline. These severe consequences induce feedbacks that contribute to amplified warming, affecting weather and climate globally. Aerosols and clouds play a critical role in regulating radiation reaching the Arctic surface. However, the magnitude of their effects is not adequately quantified, especially in the central Arctic where they impact the energy balance over the sea ice. Specifically, aerosols called ice nucleating particles (INPs) remain understudied yet are necessary for cloud ice production and subsequent changes in cloud lifetime, radiative effects, and precipitation. Here, we report observations of INPs in the central Arctic over a full year, spanning the entire sea ice growth and decline cycle. Further, these observations are size-resolved, affording valuable information on INP sources. Our results reveal a strong seasonality of INPs, with lower concentrations in the winter and spring controlled by transport from lower latitudes, to enhanced concentrations of INPs during the summer melt, likely from marine biological production in local open waters. This comprehensive characterization of INPs will ultimately help inform cloud parameterizations in models of all scales

The obesity epidemic in 32,936 youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the German/Austrian DPV and US T1D Exchange (T1DX) registries

Objective To examine the current extent of the obesity problem in 2 large pediatric clinical registries in the US and Europe and to examine the hypotheses that increased body mass index (BMI) z-scores (BMIz) are associated with greater hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and increased frequency of severe hypoglycemia in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Study design International (World Health Organization) and national (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents) BMI references were used to calculate BMIz in participants (age 2-<18 years and ≥1 year duration of T1D) enrolled in the T1D Exchange (n = 11 435) and the Diabetes Prospective Follow-up (n = 21 501). Associations between BMIz and HbA1c and severe hypoglycemia were assessed. Results Participants in both registries had median BMI values that were greater than international and their respective national reference values. BMIz was significantly greater in the T1D Exchange vs the Diabetes Prospective Follow-up (P < .001). After stratification by age-group, no differences in BMI between registries existed for children 2-5 years, but differences were confirmed for 6- to 9-, 10- to 13-, and 14- to 17-year age groups (all P < .001). Greater BMIz were significantly related to greater HbA1c levels and more frequent occurrence of severe hypoglycemia across the registries, although these associations may not be clinically relevant. Conclusions Excessive weight is a common problem in children with T1D in Germany and Austria and, especially, in the US. Our data suggest that obesity contributes to the challenges in achieving optimal glycemic control in children and adolescents with T1D

A Covariant model for the nucleon and the Δ\Delta

The covariant spectator formalism is used to model the nucleon and the $\Delta$(1232) as a system of three constituent quarks with their own electromagnetic structure. The definition of the ``fixed-axis'' polarization states for the diquark emitted from the initial state vertex and absorbed into the final state vertex is discussed. The helicity sum over those states is evaluated and seen to be covariant. Using this approach, all four electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon, together with the {\it magnetic} form factor, $G_M^*$, for the $\gamma N \to \Delta$ transition, can be described using manifestly covariant nucleon and $\Delta$ wave functions with {\it zero} orbital angular momentum $L$, but a successful description of $G_M^*$ near $Q^2=0$ requires the addition of a pion cloud term not included in the class of valence quark models considered here. We also show that the pure $S$-wave model gives electric, $G_E^*$, and coulomb, $G^*_C$, transition form factors that are identically zero, showing that these form factors are sensitive to wave function components with $L>0$.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 2 table