Graded cueing feedback in robot-mediated imitation practice for children with autism spectrum disorders

A pilot study was conducted examining the effects of a humanoid robot giving the minimum required feedback – graded cueing – during an imitation game played with a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 12 high-functioning participants with ASD, ages 7 to 10, each played “Copy-Cat ” with a Nao robot 5 times over the span of 2.5 weeks. While the graded cueing model was not exercised in its fullest, using graded cueing-style feedback resulted in a nondecreasing trend in imitative accuracy when compared to a non-adaptive condition where participants always received the same, most descriptive feedback whenever they made a mistake. These trends show promise for future work with robots encouraging autonomy in special needs populations

Endovascular-first approach is not associated with worse amputation-free survival in appropriately selected patients with critical limb ischemia

ObjectiveEndovascular interventions for critical limb ischemia are associated with inferior limb salvage (LS) rates in most randomized trials and large series. This study examined the long-term outcomes of selective use of endovascular-first (endo-first) and open-first strategies in 302 patients from March 2007 to December 2010.MethodsEndo-first was selected if (1) the patient had short (5-cm to 7-cm occlusions or stenoses in crural vessels); (2) the disease in the superficial femoral artery was limited to TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus II A, B, or C; and (3) no impending limb loss. Endo-first was performed in 187 (62%), open-first in 105 (35%), and 10 (3%) had hybrid procedures.ResultsThe endo-first group was older, with more diabetes and tissue loss. Bypass was used more to infrapopliteal targets (70% vs 50%, P = .031). The 5-year mortality was similar (open, 48%; endo, 42%; P = .107). Secondary procedures (endo or open) were more common after open-first (open, 71 of 105 [68%] vs endo, 102 of 187 [55%]; P = .029). Compared with open-first, the 5-year LS rate for endo-first was 85% vs 83% (P = .586), and amputation-free survival (AFS) was 45% vs 50% (P = .785). Predictors of death were age >75 years (hazard ratio [HR], 3.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7-6.6; P = .0007), end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (HR, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.1-5.6; P < .0001), and prior stroke (HR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.03-2.3; P = .036). Predictors of limb loss were ESRD (HR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.4; P = .015) and below-the-knee intervention (P = .041). Predictors of worse AFS were older age (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.13-3.7; P = .018), ESRD (HR, 3.2; 95% CI, 2.1-5.11; P < .0001), prior stroke (P = .0054), and gangrene (P = .024).ConclusionsAt 5 years, endo-first and open-first revascularization strategies had equivalent LS rates and AFS in patients with critical limb ischemia when properly selected. A patient-centered approach with close surveillance improves long-term outcomes for both open and endo approaches

Refining the Methodology for Investigating the Relationship Between Fluency and the Use of Formulaic Language in Learner Speech

This study is a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between productive fluency and the use of formulaic sequences in the speech of highly proficient L2 learners. Two samples of learner speech were randomly drawn and analysed. Formulaic sequences were identified on the basis of two distinct procedures: a frequency-based, distributional approach which returned a set of recurrent sequences (n-grams) and an intuition and criterion-based, linguistic procedure which returned a set of phrasemes. Formulaic material was then removed from the data. Breakdown and speed fluency measures were obtained for the following types of speech: baseline (pre-removal), formulaic, non-formulaic (post-removal). The results show significant differences between baseline and post-removal fluency scores for both learners. Also, formulaic speech is produced more fluently than non-formulaic speech. However, the comparison of the fluency scores of n-grams and phrasemes returned inconsistent results with significant differences reported only for one of the samples

Charakterystyka stratyfikacji termicznej i chemicznej wód jeziora Ostrowite (PNBT) w roku 2015 = Features of the thermal and chemical stratification of the Ostrowite Lake water in the year 2015

Gierszewski Piotr, Miler Karol, Kaszubski Michał. Charakterystyka stratyfikacji termicznej i chemicznej wód jeziora Ostrowite (PNBT) w roku 2015 = Features of the thermal and chemical stratification of the Ostrowite Lake water in the year 2015. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2015;5(12):217-229. ISSN 2391-8306. DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.35354 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/2015%3B5%2812%29%3A217-229 http://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/works/679838 Formerly Journal of Health Sciences. ISSN 1429-9623 / 2300-665X. Archives 2011–2014http://journal.rsw.edu.pl/index.php/JHS/issue/archive   Deklaracja. Specyfika i zawartość merytoryczna czasopisma nie ulega zmianie. Zgodnie z informacją MNiSW z dnia 2 czerwca 2014 r., że w roku 2014 nie będzie przeprowadzana ocena czasopism naukowych; czasopismo o zmienionym tytule otrzymuje tyle samo punktów co na wykazie czasopism naukowych z dnia 31 grudnia 2014 r. The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland parametric evaluation. Part B item 1089. (31.12.2014). © The Author (s) 2015; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland and Radom University in Radom, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 10.11.2015. Revised 25.11.2015. Accepted: 14.12.2015.   Charakterystyka stratyfikacji termicznej i chemicznej wód jeziora Ostrowite (PNBT) w roku 2015 Features of the thermal and chemical stratification of the Ostrowite Lake water in the year 2015   Piotr Gierszewski1, Karol Miler1, Michał Kaszubski2   1. Instytut Geografii, Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy 2. Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania, Polska Akademia Nauk   Abstrakt W artykule przedstawiono problem zróżnicowania stratyfikacji termicznej i chemicznej wód w wieloakwenowym jeziorze Ostrowite położnym na obszarze Parku Narodowego „Bory Tucholskie”. Na podstawie pomiarów temperatury, koncentracji tlenu rozpuszczonego w wodzie i wartości przewodnictwa elektrolitycznego wody w okresie wiosennej cyrkulacji i letniej stagnacji wykazano różny charakter stratyfikacji wód w poszczególnych akwenach jeziora. Określono, że największym indywidualizmem pod tym względem charakteryzowała się wschodnia rynna jeziora. Ze względu na wielkość oraz cechy morfometryczne ta część jeziora wykazywała mniejszą dynamikę wód.   Słowa kluczowe: jezioro dymiktyczne, stratyfikacja wód, zróżnicowanie temperatury wody, koncentracja tlenu, przewodnictwo elektrolityczne, jezioro Ostrowite.   Abstract The paper presents the problem of the diversity of thermal and chemical stratification in the multi-pools Ostrowite Lake, situated on the area of the National Park "Tucholskie Forests". Based on measurements of temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration in water and the electrolytic conductivity of water conducted during spring turnover and summer stagnation of water, the diversity of water stratification in various pools of the lake has been shown. The greatest individuality due to the course of stratification, was occurred in the western channel of the lake. Taking into account the size and morphometric parameters, this part of the lake revealed a lower dynamic of water.   Key words: dimictic lake, water stratification, water temperature diversity, oxygen concentration, electrolytic conductance, Ostrowite Lake

Choroidal thickness in patients with coronary artery disease

<div><p>Purpose</p><p>To evaluate choroidal thickness (CTh) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) compared to healthy controls.</p><p>Design</p><p>Cross-sectional.</p><p>Methods</p><p><u>Setting</u>: Ambulatory clinic of a large city hospital. <u>Patient population</u>: Thirty-four patients had documented CAD, defined as history of >50% obstruction in at least one coronary artery on cardiac catheterization, positive stress test, ST elevation myocardial infarction, or revascularization procedure. Twenty-eight age-matched controls had no self-reported history of CAD or diabetes. Patients with high myopia, dense cataracts, and retinal disease were excluded. <u>Observation procedures</u>: Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography and questionnaire regarding medical and ocular history. <u>Main outcome measures</u>: Subfoveal CTh and CTh 2000 μm superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal to the fovea in the left eye, measured by 2 readers.</p><p>Results</p><p>CTh was significantly lower in patients with CAD compared to controls at the subfoveal location (252 vs. 303 μm, <i>P</i> = 0.002) and at all 4 cardinal macular locations. The mean difference in CTh between the 2 groups ranged from 46 to 75 μm and was greatest in the inferior location. Within the CAD group, CTh was significantly lower temporally (<i>P</i> = 0.007) and nasally (<i>P</i><0.001) than subfoveally, consistent with the pattern observed in controls. On multivariate analysis, CAD was negatively associated with subfoveal CTh (<i>P</i> = 0.006) after controlling for diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia.</p><p>Conclusions and relevance</p><p>Patients with CAD have a thinner macular choroid than controls, with preservation of the normal spatial CTh pattern. Decreased CTh might predispose patients with CAD to high-risk phenotypes of age-related macular degeneration such as reticular pseudodrusen and could serve as a potential biomarker of disease in CAD.</p></div

Baseline characteristics of coronary artery disease study population compared with control population.

<p>Baseline characteristics of coronary artery disease study population compared with control population.</p