1,800 research outputs found
Automation of motor dexterity assessment
Motor dexterity assessment is regularly performed in rehabilitation wards to establish patient status and automatization for such routinary task is sought. A system for automatizing the assessment of motor dexterity based on the Fugl-Meyer scale and with loose restrictions on sensing technologies is presented. The system consists of two main elements: 1) A data representation that abstracts the low level information obtained from a variety of sensors, into a highly separable low dimensionality encoding employing t-distributed Stochastic Neighbourhood Embedding, and, 2) central to this communication, a multi-label classifier that boosts classification rates by exploiting the fact that the classes corresponding to the individual exercises are naturally organized as a network. Depending on the targeted therapeutic movement class labels i.e. exercises scores, are highly correlated-patients who perform well in one, tends to perform well in related exercises-; and critically no node can be used as proxy of others - an exercise does not encode the information of other exercises. Over data from a cohort of 20 patients, the novel classifier outperforms classical Naive Bayes, random forest and variants of support vector machines (ANOVA: p <; 0.001). The novel multi-label classification strategy fulfills an automatic system for motor dexterity assessment, with implications for lessening therapist's workloads, reducing healthcare costs and providing support for home-based virtual rehabilitation and telerehabilitation alternatives
Master of Science
thesisThe El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) impacts hydroclimate variability in western North America (NA). Tropical Pacific sea-surface temperature (SST) forcing on NA hydroclimate has been explored in depth at regional-spatial scales. However, an understa
Shakespearean allusion and the detective fiction of Georgette Heyer
This essay argues that Shakespearean allusion is a recurrent and important factor in the detective novels of Georgette Heyer. Though the master text for Heyer is Hamlet, a variety of Shakespeare plays are referred to, and mention of them functions in multiple ways. Quotations from Shakespeare reveal truths about the characters and comment on their situations and personalities. They also afford points of entry for people previously unacquainted to talk to each other, and finally they have effects in terms of genre, since their presence can, with equal facility, tend towards comic relief (in line with a tradition in Golden Age crime fiction of using Macbeth in particular to comic effect) or work to add gravitas and resonance. The use of Shakespearean allusion is thus central to Heyer’s technique. This article is published as part of a collection to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death
Striations in the Taurus molecular cloud: Kelvin-Helmholtz instability or MHD waves?
The origin of striations aligned along the local magnetic field direction in
the translucent envelope of the Taurus molecular cloud is examined with new
observations of 12CO and 13CO J=2-1 emission obtained with the 10~m
submillimeter telescope of the Arizona Radio Observatory. These data identify a
periodic pattern of excess blue and redshifted emission that is responsible for
the striations. For both 12CO and 13CO, spatial variations of the J=2-1 to
J=1-0 line ratio are small and are not spatially correlated with the striation
locations. A medium comprised of unresolved CO emitting substructures (cells)
with a beam area filling factor less than unity at any velocity is required to
explain the average line ratios and brightness temperatures. We propose that
the striations result from the modulation of velocities and the beam filling
factor of the cells as a result of either the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability or
magnetosonic waves propagating through the envelope of the Taurus molecular
cloud. Both processes are likely common features in molecular clouds that are
sub-Alfvenic and may explain low column density, cirrus-like features similarly
aligned with the magnetic field observed throughout the interstellar medium in
far-infrared surveys of dust emission.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Genetic Diversity of Four Filipino Negrito Populations from Luzon: Comparison of Male and Female Effective Population Sizes and Differential Integration of Immigrants into Aeta and Agta Communities
Genetic data corresponding to four negrito populations (two Aeta and two Agta; n = 120) from the Luzon region of the Philippines have been analyzed. These data comprise mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segment 1 haplotypes and haplogroups, Y-chromosome haplogroups and short tandem repeats (STRs), autosomal STRs, and X-chromosome STRs. The genetic diversity and structure of the populations were investigated at a local, regional, and interregional level. We found a high level of autosomal differentiation, combined with no significant reduction in diversity, consistent with long-term settlement of the Luzon region by the ancestors of the Agta and Aeta followed by reduced gene flow between these two ethnolinguistic groups. Collectively, the Aeta have a much higher ratio of female:male effective population size than do the Agta, a finding that supports phylogenetic analysis of their mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplogroups, which suggests different genetic sex-biased contributions from putative Austronesian source populations. We propose that factors of social organization that led to the reduction in Agta female effective population size may also be linked to the limited incorporation of female lineages associated with the settlement of the Philippines by Austronesian speakers; conversely, the reduction in Aeta male effective population size, relative to females, could be indicative of a limited incorporation of male lineages associated with this demographic process
Measurements of thermodynamic and transport properties of EuC: a low-temperature analogue of EuO
EuC is a ferromagnet with a Curie-temperature of K. It
is semiconducting with the particularity that the resistivity drops by about 5
orders of magnitude on cooling through , which is therefore called a
metal-insulator transition. In this paper we study the magnetization, specific
heat, thermal expansion, and the resistivity around this ferromagnetic
transition on high-quality EuC samples. At we observe well defined
anomalies in the specific heat and thermal expansion data.
The magnetic contributions of and can satisfactorily be
described within a mean-field theory, taking into account the magnetization
data. In zero magnetic field the magnetic contributions of the specific heat
and thermal expansion fulfill a Gr\"uneisen-scaling, which is not preserved in
finite fields. From an estimation of the pressure dependence of via
Ehrenfest's relation, we expect a considerable increase of under applied
pressure due to a strong spin-lattice coupling. Furthermore the influence of
weak off stoichiometries in EuC was studied. It is
found that strongly affects the resistivity, but hardly changes the
transition temperature. In all these aspects, the behavior of EuC strongly
resembles that of EuO.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women's Work and Agency in Rural South India
This paper reexamines the linkages between women's work, agency, and well-being based on a household survey and in-depth interviews conducted in rural Tamil Nadu in 2009 and questions the prioritization of workforce participation as a path to gender equality. It emphasizes the need to unpack the nature of work performed by and available to women and its social valuation, as well as women's agency, particularly its implications for decision making around financial and nonfinancial household resources in contexts of socioeconomic change. The effects of work participation on agency are mediated by factors like age and stage in the life cycle, reproductive success, and social location – especially of caste – from which women enter the workforce
Georgette Heyer: what Austen left out
It has often been observed that there are certain things Jane Austen excludes from her books, most notably conversations between men at which no women are present, and the Napoleonic wars. Georgette Heyer comprehensively and systematically includes what Austen omits. Regency Buck, the first of Heyer’s regency romances, pointedly highlights a number of things that Austen keeps silent on: the Prince Regent and the Pavilion, duels, snuff, men’s clothes and pastimes, men’s conversation, Beau Brummell, curricle racing, cockfighting, boxing, and the manners of men to non-ladies. The heroine’s brother, Peregrine, takes sparring lessons at Jackson’s Saloon, shoots at Manton’s Galleries, fences at Angelo’s, and drinks Blue Ruin in Cribb’s Parlour, and we even overhear an all-male conversation. Above all, Heyer focuses on the Napoleonic Wars, which for her men are the preservative from foppishness and folly; essentially, they have a choice between fighting for Wellington or growing to be like Prinny or Byron. This chapter will examine her representation of the wars, with particular attention to the ways in which the language and imagery of warfare spills over into domestic situations
Evaluating the potential impacts of grey seal predation and fishery bycatch/discards on cod productivity on the Western Scotian Shelf and in the Bay of Fundy
The recovery of many groundfish stocks throughout the Northwest Atlantic has
been impeded by elevated natural (i.e., non-fishing) mortality (M) among
older/larger individuals. The causes of elevated mortality are not well known,
though predation by rapidly growing grey seal herds and unreported fishing are
thought to be possible drivers of mortality for Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) on
the Western Scotian Shelf and in the Bay of Fundy (known as "4X5Y cod") and in
nearby ecosystems. We developed a statistical catch-at-age model for 4X5Y cod
that accounted for both grey seal predation and estimated bycatch/discards to
evaluate the degree to which either of these factors may influence cod
mortality. The model was fit over a range of predation and discarding scenarios
to account for uncertainties and a lack of data for these processes. We found
that most cod M remained unaccounted for unless cod comprised a large
proportion (>0.45) of the grey seal diet by weight. If the reported bycatch
estimates are taken as accurate, then the magnitude of cod discards from
non-directed fisheries was minor, though these estimates are highly uncertain.Comment: 27 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures, 2 appendice
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