2,205 research outputs found

    The interaction between social goals and self-construal on achievement motivation

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    PiracyAnalyzer: Spatial temporal patterns analysis of global piracy incidents

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    Maritime piracy incidents present significant threats to maritime security, resulting in material damages and jeopardizing the safety of crews. Despite the scope of the issue, existing research has not adequately explored the diverse risks and theoretical implications involved. To fill that gap, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework for analyzing global piracy incidents. The framework assesses risk levels and identifies patterns from spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal dimensions, which facilitates the development of informed anti-piracy policy decisions. Firstly, the paper introduces a novel risk assessment mechanism for piracy incidents and constructs a dataset encompassing 3,716 recorded incidents from 2010 to 2021. Secondly, this study has developed a visualization and analysis framework capable of examining piracy incidents through the identification of clusters, outliers, and hot spots. Thirdly, a number of experiments are conducted on the constructed dataset to scrutinize current spatial-temporal patterns of piracy accidents. In experiments, we analyze the current trends in piracy incidents on temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal dimensions to provide a detailed examination of piracy incidents. The paper contributes new understandings of piracy distribution and patterns, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures

    The effectiveness and satisfaction of web-based physiotherapy in people with spinal cord injury: a pilot randomised controlled trial

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    Study Design: Pilot randomised controlled trial. Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness and participant satisfaction of web-based physiotherapy for people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Setting: Community patients of a national spinal injury unit in a university teaching hospital, Scotland, UK. Methods: Twenty-four participants were recruited and randomised to receive eight weeks of web-based physiotherapy (intervention), twice per week, or usual care (control). Individual exercise programmes were prescribed based upon participant’s abilities. The intervention was delivered via a website (www.webbasedphysio.com) and monitored and progressed remotely by the physiotherapist. Results: Participants logged on to the website an average of 1.4±0.8 times per week. Between-group differences, although not significant were more pronounced for the 6 minute walk test. Participants were positive about using web-based physiotherapy and stated they would be happy to use it again and would recommend it to others. Overall it was rated as either good or excellent. Conclusions: Web-based physiotherapy was feasible and acceptable for people with SCI. Participants achieved good compliance with the intervention, rated the programme highly and beneficial for health and well-being at various states post injury. The results of this study warrant further work with a more homogenous sample

    CHY representations for gauge theory and gravity amplitudes with up to three massive particles

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    We show that a wide class of tree-level scattering amplitudes involving scalars, gauge bosons, and gravitons, up to three of which may be massive, can be expressed in terms of a Cachazo-He-Yuan representation as a sum over solutions of the scattering equations. These amplitudes, when expressed in terms of the appropriate kinematic invariants, are independent of the masses and therefore identical to the corresponding massless amplitudes.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; v2: minor typos corrected, published versio

    Calcaneal osteomyelitis presenting with acute tarsal tunnel syndrome: a case report

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Cases of acute tarsal tunnel syndrome are rare. To the best of our knowledge, we describe the only reported case of acute posterior tibial nerve compression resulting from adjacent haemotogenous pyogenic calcaneal osteomyelitis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A previously healthy 38-year-old Caucasian woman developed symptoms of acute tarsal tunnel syndrome in her right foot over a six-day period. No antecedent trauma or systemic symptoms were noted. Magnetic resonance imaging and bone scan imaging, followed by surgical decompression and bone biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>calcaneal osteomyelitis. Her pain and paraesthesia disappeared after the operation, while her inflammatory markers normalised during a 12-week course of antibiotics. After four years she has remained asymptomatic without any indication of recurrence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case is not just unique in describing osteomyelitis as a cause of tarsal tunnel syndrome, because haemotogenous calcaneal osteomyelitis is in itself a rare pathology. We recommend considering infection as a differential diagnosis in patients presenting with acute tarsal tunnel syndrome.</p

    An investigation of the problem of optimizing a search tactic for a searchlight type sonar.

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    A searchlight type sonar is one of the systems that small navies use to counteract the danger which submarines present to their lines of supply and transport. In this paper, a standard search pattern for this type of sonar is compared with search patterns which are based on a consideration of the tactical value of detecting a submarine as a function of the relative location of the submarine. The results of the comparison suggest that is possible to increase the effectiveness of a searchlight type sonar by using a search pattern in which the sweep time allocated to a search sector is based on the sectors tactical importance.http://archive.org/details/investigationofp00llanCommander, Chilean NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

    Mirroring everyday clinical practice in clinical trial design: a new concept to improve the external validity of randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials in the pharmacological treatment of major depression

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    Background: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials constitute the gold standard in clinical research when testing the efficacy of new psychopharmacological interventions in the treatment of major depression. However, the blinded use of placebo has been found to influence clinical trial outcomes and may bias patient selection. Discussion: To improve clinical trial design in major depression so as to reflect clinical practice more closely we propose to present patients with a balanced view of the benefits of study participation irrespective of their assignment to placebo or active treatment. In addition every participant should be given the option to finally receive the active medication. A research agenda is outlined to evaluate the impact of the proposed changes on the efficacy of the drug to be evaluated and on the demographic and clinical characteristics of the enrollment fraction with regard to its representativeness of the eligible population. Summary: We propose a list of measures to be taken to improve the external validity of double-blind, placebocontrolled trials in major depression. The recommended changes to clinical trial design may also be relevant for other psychiatric as well as medical disorders in which expectations regarding treatment outcome may affect the outcome itself

    Coevolved mutations reveal distinct architectures for two core proteins in the bacterial flagellar motor

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    Switching of bacterial flagellar rotation is caused by large domain movements of the FliG protein triggered by binding of the signal protein CheY to FliM. FliG and FliM form adjacent multi-subunit arrays within the basal body C-ring. The movements alter the interaction of the FliG C-terminal (FliGC) "torque" helix with the stator complexes. Atomic models based on the Salmonella entrovar C-ring electron microscopy reconstruction have implications for switching, but lack consensus on the relative locations of the FliG armadillo (ARM) domains (amino-terminal (FliGN), middle (FliGM) and FliGC) as well as changes during chemotaxis. The generality of the Salmonella model is challenged by the variation in motor morphology and response between species. We studied coevolved residue mutations to determine the unifying elements of switch architecture. Residue interactions, measured by their coevolution, were formalized as a network, guided by structural data. Our measurements reveal a common design with dedicated switch and motor modules. The FliM middle domain (FliMM) has extensive connectivity most simply explained by conserved intra and inter-subunit contacts. In contrast, FliG has patchy, complex architecture. Conserved structural motifs form interacting nodes in the coevolution network that wire FliMM to the FliGC C-terminal, four-helix motor module (C3-6). FliG C3-6 coevolution is organized around the torque helix, differently from other ARM domains. The nodes form separated, surface-proximal patches that are targeted by deleterious mutations as in other allosteric systems. The dominant node is formed by the EHPQ motif at the FliMMFliGM contact interface and adjacent helix residues at a central location within FliGM. The node interacts with nodes in the N-terminal FliGc α-helix triad (ARM-C) and FliGN. ARM-C, separated from C3-6 by the MFVF motif, has poor intra-network connectivity consistent with its variable orientation revealed by structural data. ARM-C could be the convertor element that provides mechanistic and species diversity.JK was supported by Medical Research Council grant U117581331. SK was supported by seed funds from Lahore University of Managment Sciences (LUMS) and the Molecular Biology Consortium
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