Dynamic Assessment of bilingual children’s language at the point of referral

The DAPPLE (Dynamic Assessment of Preschoolers’ Proficiency in Learning English) was developed in response to a clinical need to obtain information about bilingual children’s English language learning ability, particularly in the absence of detailed information regarding their proficiency in their other languages. The assessment looked at children’s responses to opportunities to learn in the areas of vocabulary, sentence structure and phonology (speech sounds). Twelve bilingual children aged between three and five years who had been referred to speech and language therapy were assessed. Their responses across the three areas were explored to derive profiles of strength and weakness across language areas. One of the twelve children was found to possess good language learning abilities across all areas, which may reflect an inappropriate referral. All of the remaining children demonstrated difficulties with learning within one or more areas of the DAPPLE, with one child having difficulties across all areas. The findings indicate that the DAPPLE could be used productively as a pre-diagnostic tool. Future directions for the development of the test are considered

Crystalline phases involved in the hydration of calcium silicate-based cements: Semi-quantitative Rietveld X-ray diffraction analysis

Chemical comparisons of powder and hydrated forms of calcium silicate cements (CSCs) and calculation of alterations in tricalcium silicate (Ca3SiO5) calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) are essential for understanding their hydration processes. This study aimed to evaluate and compare these changes in ProRoot MTA, Biodentine and CEM cement. Powder and hydrated forms of tooth coloured ProRoot MTA, Biodentine and CEM cement were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis with Rietveld refinement to semi-quantitatively identify and quantify the main phases involved in their hydration process. Data were reported descriptively. Reduction in Ca3SiO5 and formation of Ca(OH)2 were seen after the hydration of ProRoot MTA and Biodentine; however, in the case of CEM cement, no reduction of Ca3SiO5 and no formation of Ca(OH)2 were detected. The highest percentages of amorphous phases were seen in Biodentine samples. Ettringite was detected in the hydrated forms of ProRoot MTA and CEM cement but not in Biodentine

Pathophysiological mechanism of post-lobectomy air leaks

Background: Air leak post-lobectomy continues to remain a significant clinical problem, with upper lobectomy associated with higher air leak rates. This paper investigated the pathophysiological role of pleural stress in the development of post-lobectomy air leak.Methods: Preoperative characteristics and postoperative data from 367 consecutive video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy resections from one centre were collected prospectively between January 2014 and March 2017. Computer modelling of a lung model using finite element analysis (FEA) was used to calculate pleural stress in differing areas of the lung.Results: Air leak following upper lobectomy was significantly higher than after middle or lower lobectomy (6.3% versus 2.5%, P=0.044), resulting in a significant six-day increase in mean hospital stay, P=0.004. The computer simulation model of the lung showed that an apical bullet shape was subject to eightyfold higher stress than the base of the lung model.Conclusions: After upper lobectomy, the bullet shape of the apex of the exposed lower lobe was associated with high pleural stress, and a reduction in mechanical support by the chest wall to the visceral pleura due to initial post-op lack of chest wall confluence. It is suggested that such higher stress in the lower lobe apex explains the higher parenchymal air leak post-upper lobectomy. The pleural stress model also accounts for the higher incidence of right-sided prolonged air leak post-resection.peer-reviewe

An integrated probabilistic framework for robot perception, learning and memory

Learning and perception from multiple sensory modalities are crucial processes for the development of intelligent systems capable of interacting with humans. We present an integrated probabilistic framework for perception, learning and memory in robotics. The core component of our framework is a computational Synthetic Autobiographical Memory model which uses Gaussian Processes as a foundation and mimics the functionalities of human memory. Our memory model, that operates via a principled Bayesian probabilistic framework, is capable of receiving and integrating data flows from multiple sensory modalities, which are combined to improve perception and understanding of the surrounding environment. To validate the model, we implemented our framework in the iCub humanoid robotic, which was able to learn and recognise human faces, arm movements and touch gestures through interaction with people. Results demonstrate the flexibility of our method to successfully integrate multiple sensory inputs, for accurate learning and recognition. Thus, our integrated probabilistic framework offers a promising core technology for robust intelligent systems, which are able to perceive, learn and interact with people and their environments

A novel method of personnel cooling in an operating theatre environment

Funding obtained from University of Malta.An optimized theatre environment, including personal temperature regulation, can help maintain concentration, extend work times and may improve surgical outcomes. However, devices, such as cooling vests, are bulky and may impair the surgeon's mobility. We describe the use of a low-cost, low-energy 'bladeless fan' as a personal cooling device. The safety profile of this device was investigated by testing air quality using 0.5- and 5-µm particle counts as well as airborne bacterial counts on an operating table simulating a wound in a thoracic operation in a busy theatre environment. Particle and bacterial counts were obtained with both an empty and full theatre, with and without the 'bladeless fan'. The use of the 'bladeless fan' within the operating theatre during the simulated operation led to a minor, not statistically significant, lowering of both the particle and bacterial counts. In conclusion, the 'bladeless fan' is a safe, effective, low-cost and low-energy consumption solution for personnel cooling in a theatre environment that maintains the clean room conditions of the operating theatre.peer-reviewe

Relativistic quantum theories and neutrino oscillations

Neutrino oscillations are examined under the broad requirements of Poincar\'e-invariant scattering theory in an S-matrix formulation. This approach can be consistently applied to theories with either field or particle degrees of freedom. The goal of this paper is to use this general framework to identify all of the unique physical properties of this problem that lead to a simple oscillation formula. We discuss what is in principle observable, and how many factors that are important in principle end up being negligible in practice.Comment: 21 pages, no figure

Redeployment and training of healthcare professionals to Intensive Care during COVID-19: a systematic review

Background: A rapid influx of patients to intensive care and infection control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic required the rapid development of innovative redeployment and training strategies. / Methods: We conducted a systematic search of 9 databases including key terms related to intensive care AND training AND redeployment AND healthcare workers. Analysis consisted of a narrative synthesis of quantitative study outputs, and a framework-based thematic analysis of qualitative study outputs and grey literature. These results were then combined applying an interpretative synthesis. / Results: Twenty papers were analysed. These took place primarily in the UK (N=8, 40%) and USA (N=5, 25%). Themes included in the results are Redeployment: Implementation strategies and learnings; Redeployed staff experience and strategies to address their needs; Redeployed staff learning needs; Training formats offered and training evaluations; and Future redeployment and training concerns. Some of the redeployment implementation and training strategies documented in this review are: Skills-based redeployment, buddy support systems, and agreeing on locally-specific principles, rather than strict procedures. / Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges to deliver training promptly while following infection control recommendations and develop flexible redeployment strategies. This study synthesises original approaches to tackle these challenges which are relevant to inform the development of targeted and adaptative training and redeployment plans

Towards general models of player affect

While the primary focus of affective computing has been on constructing efficient and reliable models of affect, the vast majority of such models are limited to a specific task and domain. This paper, instead, investigates how computational models of affect can be general across dissimilar tasks; in particular, in modeling the experience of playing very different video games. We use three dissimilar games whose players annotated their arousal levels on video recordings of their own playthroughs. We construct models mapping ranks of arousal to skin conductance and gameplay logs via preference learning and we use a form of cross-game validation to test the generality of the obtained models on unseen games. Our initial results comparing between absolute and relative measures of the arousal annotation values indicate that we can obtain more general models of player affect if we process the model output in an ordinal fashion.peer-reviewe

Platformer level design for player believability

Player believability is often defined as the ability of a game playing character to convince an observer that it is being controlled by a human. The agent's behavior is often assumed to be the main contributor to the character's believability. In this paper we reframe this core assumption and instead focus on the impact of the game environment and aspects of game design (such as level design) on the believability of the game character. To investigate the relationship between game content and believability we crowdsource rank-based annotations from subjects that view playthrough videos of various AI and human controlled agents in platformer levels of dissimilar characteristics. For this initial study we use a variant of the well-known Super Mario Bros game. We build support vector machine models of reported believability based on gameplay and level features which are extracted from the videos. The highest performing model predicts perceived player believability of a character with an accuracy of 73.31%, on average, and implies a direct relationship between level features and player believability.We would like to thank all participants of the crowdsourcing experiment. This work has been supported in part by the FP7 Marie Curie CIG project AutoGameDesign (630665).peer-reviewe

On the auxetic properties of generic rotating rigid triangles

Materials having a negative Poisson’s ratio (auxetic) get fatter rather than thinner when uniaxially stretched. This phenomenon has been often explained through models that describe how particular geometric features in the micro or nanostructure of the material deform when subjected to uniaxial loads. Here, a new model based on scalene rigid triangles rotate relative to each other will be presented and analysed. It is shown that this model can afford a very wide range of Poisson’s ratio values, the sign and magnitude of which depends on the shape of the triangles and the angles between them. This new model has the advantage that it is very generic and may be potentially used to describe the properties in various types of materials, including auxetic foams and their relative surface density. Specific applications of this model, such as a blueprint for a system that can exhibit temperature-dependent Poisson’s ratios, are also discussed.peer-reviewe