Soccer Team Vectors

In this work we present STEVE - Soccer TEam VEctors, a principled approach for learning real valued vectors for soccer teams where similar teams are close to each other in the resulting vector space. STEVE only relies on freely available information about the matches teams played in the past. These vectors can serve as input to various machine learning tasks. Evaluating on the task of team market value estimation, STEVE outperforms all its competitors. Moreover, we use STEVE for similarity search and to rank soccer teams.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure; This paper was presented at the 6th Workshop on Machine Learning and Data Mining for Sports Analytics at ECML/PKDD 2019, W\"urzburg, Germany, 201

Geographical location influences the composition of the gut microbiota in wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) at a fine spatial scale.

The composition of the mammalian gut microbiota can be influenced by a multitude of environmental variables such as diet and infections. Studies investigating the effect of these variables on gut microbiota composition often sample across multiple separate populations and habitat types. In this study we explore how variation in the gut microbiota of the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) on the Isle of May, a small island off the east coast of Scotland, is associated with environmental and biological factors. Our study focuses on the effects of environmental variables, specifically trapping location and surrounding vegetation, as well as the host variables sex, age, body weight and endoparasite infection, on the gut microbiota composition across a fine spatial scale in a freely interbreeding population. We found that differences in gut microbiota composition were significantly associated with the trapping location of the host, even across this small spatial scale. Sex of the host showed a weak association with microbiota composition. Whilst sex and location could be identified as playing an important role in the compositional variation of the gut microbiota, 75% of the variation remains unexplained. Whereas other rodent studies have found associations between gut microbiota composition and age of the host or parasite infections, the present study could not clearly establish these associations. We conclude that fine spatial scales are important when considering gut microbiota composition and investigating differences among individuals

Central Nervous System Parasitosis and Neuroinflammation Ameliorated by Systemic IL-10 Administration in Trypanosoma brucei-Infected Mice

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Holocene paleoecology and paleoceanography of the southwestern Black Sea shelf revealed by ostracod assemblages

The Holocene replacement of Ponto-Caspian ostracod assemblages by Mediterranean species is studied in two long composite cores, M02-45 (a composite of cores M02-45P, M02-45 T and M05-03P) and M05-50 (a composite of cores M05-50P and M05-51G), acquired at sites −69 m and −91 m deep on the southwestern Black Sea shelf. Composite core M02-45 was collected from the middle shelf and composite core M05-50 was acquired on the distal fringe of the eastern levée of a saline underflow channel emanating from the Strait of Bosphorus. Sixteen radiocarbon dates in M02-45 and nine in M05-50 are used to construct age models, which show recovery of sediments as old as 12,915 cal yr BP (M02-45 site) and 12,010 cal yr BP (M05-50 site). A total of 45 ostracod species are identified in the two cores. From ~12,000 to ~7425 cal yr BP, the ostracod assemblage is dominated by Ponto-Caspian species, mainly Loxoconcha sublepida, L. lepida and Tyrrhenocythere amnicola donetziensis. From ~7425 to ~6315 cal yr BP the assemblage consists of nearly equal abundances of Mediterranean species (Cytheroma variabilis in M02-45; Sagmatocythere littoralis in M05-50) and the Ponto-Caspian species. After ~6315 cal yr BP to the tops of the cores, the assemblage is dominated by Mediterranean species, including Palmoconcha agilis, Carinocythereis carinata, Hiltermannicythere rubra and Pterygocythereis jonesii. Cluster analysis further subdivides the stratigraphic succession into six bioecozones with different ostracod assemblages. The changes in the ostracod assemblages from one bioecozone to the next indicate that progressive environmental changes took place on the southwestern Black Sea shelf from at least 7500 cal yr BP to the present. The first hint of changing conditions at ~7500 cal yr BP lags the initial reconnection to the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Bosphorus by ~2000 yr, demonstrating that Black Sea salinity increased slowly and took that long to reach values tolerable to marine ostracod immigrants. Widespread colonization by Mediterranean species took even longer, ~3000 years from the time of the initial reconnection

Formation and Propagation of Matter Wave Soliton Trains

Attraction between atoms in a Bose-Einstein-Condensate renders the condensate unstable to collapse. Confinement in an atom trap, however, can stabilize the condensate for a limited number of atoms, as was observed with 7Li, but beyond this number, the condensate collapses. Attractive condensates constrained to one-dimensional motion are predicted to form stable solitons for which the attractive interactions exactly compensate for the wave packet dispersion. Here we report the formation or bright solitons of 7Li atoms created in a quasi-1D optical trap. The solitons are created from a stable Bose-Einstein condensate by magnetically tuning the interactions from repulsive to attractive. We observe a soliton train, containing many solitons. The solitons are set in motion by offsetting the optical potential and are observed to propagate in the potential for many oscillatory cycles without spreading. Repulsive interactions between neighboring solitons are inferred from their motion

Outcome measurement in functional neurological disorder: a systematic review and recommendations.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify existing outcome measures for functional neurological disorder (FND), to inform the development of recommendations and to guide future research on FND outcomes. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to identify existing FND-specific outcome measures and the most common measurement domains and measures in previous treatment studies. Searches of Embase, MEDLINE and PsycINFO were conducted between January 1965 and June 2019. The findings were discussed during two international meetings of the FND-Core Outcome Measures group. RESULTS: Five FND-specific measures were identified-three clinician-rated and two patient-rated-but their measurement properties have not been rigorously evaluated. No single measure was identified for use across the range of FND symptoms in adults. Across randomised controlled trials (k=40) and observational treatment studies (k=40), outcome measures most often assessed core FND symptom change. Other domains measured commonly were additional physical and psychological symptoms, life impact (ie, quality of life, disability and general functioning) and health economics/cost-utility (eg, healthcare resource use and quality-adjusted life years). CONCLUSIONS: There are few well-validated FND-specific outcome measures. Thus, at present, we recommend that existing outcome measures, known to be reliable, valid and responsive in FND or closely related populations, are used to capture key outcome domains. Increased consistency in outcome measurement will facilitate comparison of treatment effects across FND symptom types and treatment modalities. Future work needs to more rigorously validate outcome measures used in this population

Spin-Imbalance in a One-Dimensional Fermi Gas

Superconductivity and magnetism generally do not coexist. Changing the relative number of up and down spin electrons disrupts the basic mechanism of superconductivity, where atoms of opposite momentum and spin form Cooper pairs. Nearly forty years ago Fulde and Ferrell and Larkin and Ovchinnikov proposed an exotic pairing mechanism (FFLO) where magnetism is accommodated by formation of pairs with finite momentum. Despite intense theoretical and experimental efforts, however, polarized superconductivity remains largely elusive. Here we report experimental measurements of density profiles of a two spin mixture of ultracold 6Li atoms trapped in an array of one dimensional (1D) tubes, a system analogous to electrons in 1D wires. At finite spin imbalance, the system phase separates with an inverted phase profile in comparison to the three-dimensional case. In 1D we find a partially polarized core surrounded by wings composed of either a completely paired BCS superfluid or a fully polarized Fermi gas, depending on the degree of polarization. Our observations are in quantitative agreement with theoretical calculations in which the partially polarized phase is found to be a 1D analogue of the FFLO state. This study demonstrates how ultracold atomic gases in 1D may be used to create non-trivial new phases of matter, and also paves the way for direct observation and further study of the FFLO phase.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure

Developing and implementing an integrated delirium prevention system of care:a theory driven, participatory research study

Background: Delirium is a common complication for older people in hospital. Evidence suggests that delirium incidence in hospital may be reduced by about a third through a multi-component intervention targeted at known modifiable risk factors. We describe the research design and conceptual framework underpinning it that informed the development of a novel delirium prevention system of care for acute hospital wards. Particular focus of the study was on developing an implementation process aimed at embedding practice change within routine care delivery. Methods: We adopted a participatory action research approach involving staff, volunteers, and patient and carer representatives in three northern NHS Trusts in England. We employed Normalization Process Theory to explore knowledge and ward practices on delirium and delirium prevention. We established a Development Team in each Trust comprising senior and frontline staff from selected wards, and others with a potential role or interest in delirium prevention. Data collection included facilitated workshops, relevant documents/records, qualitative one-to-one interviews and focus groups with multiple stakeholders and observation of ward practices. We used grounded theory strategies in analysing and synthesising data. Results: Awareness of delirium was variable among staff with no attention on delirium prevention at any level; delirium prevention was typically neither understood nor perceived as meaningful. The busy, chaotic and challenging ward life rhythm focused primarily on diagnostics, clinical observations and treatment. Ward practices pertinent to delirium prevention were undertaken inconsistently. Staff welcomed the possibility of volunteers being engaged in delirium prevention work, but existing systems for volunteer support were viewed as a barrier. Our evolving conception of an integrated model of delirium prevention presented major implementation challenges flowing from minimal understanding of delirium prevention and securing engagement of volunteers alongside practice change. The resulting Prevention of Delirium (POD) Programme combines a multi-component delirium prevention and implementation process, incorporating systems and mechanisms to introduce and embed delirium prevention into routine ward practices. Conclusions: Although our substantive interest was in delirium prevention, the conceptual and methodological strategies pursued have implications for implementing and sustaining practice and service improvements more broadly