Functional-bandwidth kernel for Support Vector Machine with Functional Data:An alternating optimization algorithm

Functional Data Analysis (FDA) is devoted to the study of data which are functions. Support Vector Ma- chine (SVM) is a benchmark tool for classification, in particular, of functional data. SVM is frequently used with a kernel (e.g.: Gaussian) which involves a scalar bandwidth parameter. In this paper, we pro- pose to use kernels with functional bandwidths. In this way, accuracy may be improved, and the time intervals critical for classification are identified. Tuning the functional parameters of the new kernel is a challenging task expressed as a continuous optimization problem, solved by means of a heuristic. Our experiments with benchmark data sets show the advantages of using functional parameters and the ef- fectiveness of our approach

On the selection of the globally optimal prototype subset for nearest-neighbor classification

The nearest-neighbor classifier has been shown to be a powerful tool for multiclass classification. We explore both theoretical properties and empirical behavior of a variant method, in which the nearest-neighbor rule is applied to a reduced set of prototypes. This set is selected a priori by fixing its cardinality and minimizing the empirical misclassification cost. In this way we alleviate the two serious drawbacks of the nearest-neighbor method: high storage requirements and time-consuming queries. Finding this reduced set is shown to be NP-hard. We provide mixed integer programming (MIP) formulations, which are theoretically compared and solved by a standard MIP solver for small problem instances. We show that the classifiers derived from these formulations are comparable to benchmark procedures. We solve large problem instances by a metaheuristic that yields good classification rules in reasonable time. Additional experiments indicate that prototype-based nearest-neighbor classifiers remain quite stable in the presence of missing values

Instructional Changes Adopted for an Engineering Course: Cluster Analysis on Academic Failure

As first-year students come from diverse backgrounds, basic skills should be accessible to everyone as soon as possible. Transferring such skills to these students is challenging, especially in highly technical courses. Ensuring that essential knowledge is acquired quickly promotes the student’s self-esteem and may positively influence failure rates. Metaphors can help do this. Metaphors are used to understand the unknown. This paper shows how we made a turn in student learning at the University of Almeria. Our hypothesis assumed that metaphors accelerate the acquisition of basic knowledge so that other skills built on that foundation are easily learned. With these goals in mind, we changed the way we teach by using metaphors and abstract concepts in a computer organisation course, a technical course in the first year of an information technology engineering degree. Cluster analysis of the data on collective student performance after this methodological change clearly identified two distinct groups. These two groups perfectly matched the before and after scenarios of the use of metaphors. The study was conducted during 11 academic years (2002/2003 to 2012/2013). The 475 observations made during this period illustrate the usefulness of this change in teaching and learning, shifting from a propositional teaching/learning model to a more dynamic model based on metaphors and abstractions. Data covering the whole period showed favourable evolution of student achievement and reduced failure rates, not only in this course, but also in many of the following more advanced courses.The paper is structured in five sections. The first gives an introduction, the second describes the methodology. The third section describes the sample and the study carried out. The fourth section presents the results and, finally, the fifth section discusses the main conclusions

Can robotic-based top-down rehabilitation therapies improve motor control in children with cerebral palsy? A perspective on the CPWalker project

[EN] Cerebral Palsy (CP) is one of the most severe disabilities in childhood, and it demands important costs in health, education, and social services. CP is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain's ability to control movement and maintain posture. Furthermore, CP is often associated with sensory deficits, cognition impairments, communication and motor disabilities, behavior issues, seizure disorder, pain, and secondary musculoskeletal problems. According to the literature, motor modules are peripheral measurements related to automatic motor control. There is a lack of evidence of change in motor modules in children with CP when different treatment approaches have been evaluated. Thus, new strategies are needed to improve motor control in this population. Robotic-based therapies are emerging as an effective intervention for gait rehabilitation in motor disorders such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and CP. There is vast clinical evidence that neural plasticity is the central core of motor recovery and development, and on-going studies suggest that robot-mediated intensive therapy could be beneficial for improved functional recovery. However, current robotic strategies are focused on the peripheral neural system (PNS) facilitating the performance of repetitive movements (a bottom-up approach). Since CP affects primarily brain structures, both the PNS and the central nervous system (CNS) should to be integrated in a physical and cognitive rehabilitation therapy (a top-down approach). This paper discusses perspectives of the top-down approach based on a novel robot-assisted rehabilitative system. Accordingly, the CPWalker robotic platform was developed to support novel therapies for CP rehabilitation. This robotic platform (Smart Walker + exoskeleton) is controlled by a multimodal interface enabling the interaction of CP infants with robot-based therapies. The aim of these therapies is to improve the physical skills of infants with CP using a top-down approach, in which motor related brain activity is used to drive robotic physical rehabilitation therapies. Our hypothesis is that the CPWalker concept will promote motor learning and this improvement will lead to significant improvements in automatic motor control.Lerma Lara, S.; Martínez Caballero, I.; Bayón, C.; Del Castillo, M.; Serrano, I.; Raya, R.; Belda Lois, JM.... (2016). Can robotic-based top-down rehabilitation therapies improve motor control in children with cerebral palsy? A perspective on the CPWalker project. Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice. 22-26. doi:10.15761/BRCP.1000106S222

Generating antiaromaticity in polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons by thermally selective skeletal rearrangements at interfaces

Antiaromatic polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons (PCHs) are attractive research targets because of their interesting structural, electronic and magnetic properties. Unlike aromatic compounds, the synthesis of antiaromatic PCHs is challenging because of their high reactivity and lack of stability, which stems from the small energy gap between their highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. Here we describe a strategy for the introduction of antiaromatic units in PCHs via thermally selective intra- and intermolecular ring-rearrangement reactions of dibromomethylene-functionalized molecular precursors upon sublimation on a hot Au(111) metal surface, not available in solution chemistry. The synthetic value of these reactions is proven by the integration of pentalene segments into acene-based precursors, which undergo intramolecular ring rearrangement, and the formation of π-conjugated ladder polymers, linked through cyclobutadiene connections, due to ring-rearrangement and homocoupling reactions of indenofluorene-based precursors. The reaction products are investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy, and mechanistic insights are unveiled by computational studies. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.This project has received funding from Comunidad de Madrid (projects QUIMTRONIC-CM (Y2018/NMT-4783) and NanoMagCost (P2018/NMT-4321)), an ERC Consolidator Grant (ELECNANO, 766555), ERC (SyG TOMATTO ERC-2020-951224) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (projects SpOrQuMat (PGC2018-098613-B-C21), CTQ2017-83531-R, PID2019-108532GB-I00, PID2020-114653RB-I00 and CTQ2016-81911-REDT). We acknowledge the support from the ‘(MAD2D-CM)-UCM’ and the ‘(MAD2D-CM)-IMDEA-Nanociencia’ projects funded by Comunidad de Madrid, by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and by NextGenerationEU from the European Union. IMDEA Nanociencia is appreciative of support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, grant nos. SEV-2016-0686 and CEX2020-001039-S). Q.C., D.S.-P. and P.J. acknowledge funding support from the CzechNanoLab Research Infrastructure supported by MEYS CR (LM2023051) and GACR project no. 20-13692X. Computational resources were provided by the e-INFRA CZ project (ID 90140), supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. A.S.-G. acknowledges funding from the ‘Ministerio de Universidades’ for the ‘Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia’ under Margarita Salas grant agreement CA1/RSUE/2021-00369. J.I.U. acknowledges the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 886314. We acknowledge B. Cirera for fruitful discussions.The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The Fireball software package is available 458 at: https://github.com/fireball-QMD and PP-SPM software package can be downloaded at: https://github.com/Probe-Particle/ppafm#probe-particle-model.Peer reviewe

Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing in improving lipid level in patients with dyslipidemia assisted by general practitioners: Dislip-EM study protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The non-pharmacological approach to cholesterol control in patients with hyperlipidemia is based on the promotion of a healthy diet and physical activity. Thus, to help patients change their habits, it is essential to identify the most effective approach. Many efforts have been devoted to explain changes in or adherence to specific health behaviors. Such efforts have resulted in the development of theories that have been applied in prevention campaigns, and that include brief advice and counseling services. Within this context, Motivational Interviewing has proven to be effective in changing health behaviors in specific cases. However, more robust evidence is needed on the effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing in treating chronic pathologies -such as dyslipidemia- in patients assisted by general practitioners. This article describes a protocol to assess the effectiveness of MI as compared with general practice (brief advice), with the aim of improving lipid level control in patients with dyslipidemia assisted by a general practitioner.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>An open, two-arm parallel, multicentre, cluster, controlled, randomized, clinical trial will be performed. A total of 48-50 general practitioners from 35 public primary care centers in Spain will be randomized and will recruit 436 patients with dyslipidemia. They will perform an intervention based either on Motivational Interviewing or on the usual brief advice. After an initial assessment, follow-ups will be performed at 2, 4, 8 and 12 months. Primary outcomes are lipid levels (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides) and cardiovascular risk. The study will assess the degree of dietary and physical activity improvement, weight loss in overweight patients, and adherence to treatment guidelines.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Motivational interview skills constitute the primary strategies GPs use to treat their patients. Having economical, simple, effective and applicable techniques is essential for primary care professionals to help their patients change their lifestyle and improve their health. This study will provide scientific evidence on the effectiveness of Motivational interviewing, and will be performed under strict control over the data collected, ensuring the maintenance of therapeutic integrity.</p> <p>Trials Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov (<a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01282190">NCT01282190</a>).</p

Detection of kinase domain mutations in BCR::ABL1 leukemia by ultra-deep sequencing of genomic DNA

The screening of the BCR::ABL1 kinase domain (KD) mutation has become a routine analysis in case of warning/failure for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) Philadelphia (Ph)-positive patients. In this study, we present a novel DNA-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) methodology for KD ABL1 mutation detection and monitoring with a 1.0E−4 sensitivity. This approach was validated with a well-stablished RNA-based nested NGS method. The correlation of both techniques for the quantification of ABL1 mutations was high (Pearson r = 0.858, p < 0.001), offering DNA-DeepNGS a sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 82%. The clinical impact was studied in a cohort of 129 patients (n = 67 for CML and n = 62 for B-ALL patients). A total of 162 samples (n = 86 CML and n = 76 B-ALL) were studied. Of them, 27 out of 86 harbored mutations (6 in warning and 21 in failure) for CML, and 13 out of 76 (2 diagnostic and 11 relapse samples) did in B-ALL patients. In addition, in four cases were detected mutation despite BCR::ABL1 < 1%. In conclusion, we were able to detect KD ABL1 mutations with a 1.0E−4 sensitivity by NGS using DNA as starting material even in patients with low levels of disease.Tis project was funded in part by CRIS CANCER FOUNDATION

Correlations between oil and stock markets:A wavelet-based approach

International audienceno abstrac

Dietary α‐Linolenic Acid, Marine ω‐3 Fatty Acids, and Mortality in a Population With High Fish Consumption: Findings From the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) Study

Background: Epidemiological evidence suggests a cardioprotective role of α‐linolenic acid (ALA), a plant‐derived ω‐3 fatty acid. It is unclear whether ALA is beneficial in a background of high marine ω‐3 fatty acids (long‐chain n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) intake. In persons at high cardiovascular risk from Spain, a country in which fish consumption is customarily high, we investigated whether meeting the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids recommendation for dietary ALA (0.7% of total energy) at baseline was related to all‐cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. We also examined the effect of meeting the society's recommendation for long‐chain n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (≥500 mg/day). Methods and Results: We longitudinally evaluated 7202 participants in the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) trial. Multivariable‐adjusted Cox regression models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios. ALA intake correlated to walnut consumption (r=0.94). During a 5.9‐y follow‐up, 431 deaths occurred (104 cardiovascular disease, 55 coronary heart disease, 32 sudden cardiac death, 25 stroke). The hazard ratios for meeting ALA recommendation (n=1615, 22.4%) were 0.72 (95% CI 0.56–0.92) for all‐cause mortality and 0.95 (95% CI 0.58–1.57) for fatal cardiovascular disease. The hazard ratios for meeting the recommendation for long‐chain n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n=5452, 75.7%) were 0.84 (95% CI 0.67–1.05) for all‐cause mortality, 0.61 (95% CI 0.39–0.96) for fatal cardiovascular disease, 0.54 (95% CI 0.29–0.99) for fatal coronary heart disease, and 0.49 (95% CI 0.22–1.01) for sudden cardiac death. The highest reduction in all‐cause mortality occurred in participants meeting both recommendations (hazard ratio 0.63 [95% CI 0.45–0.87]). Conclusions: In participants without prior cardiovascular disease and high fish consumption, dietary ALA, supplied mainly by walnuts and olive oil, relates inversely to all‐cause mortality, whereas protection from cardiac mortality is limited to fish‐derived long‐chain n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.Controlled-trials.com/. Unique identifier: ISRCTN35739639