Analyzing Sensor Data for Active Music

This thesis is about analysis of motions for active music applications, where motions control music in real--time. Motion data is derived from accelerations measured in (Euclidean) 3D by one accelerometer. In order to capture motions on different time-scales, a necessary preprocessing step for analysis is calibration and segmentation on the sensor data streams. For sensor data analysis, a real-time, configurable motion classifier has been implemented. Datasets for the experiments with this classifier are based on two categories of equally sized pre-captured accelerations. Classification performance has been evaluated on a range of segment lengths (i.e. time-scales of motions) - each length corresponding to a unique dataset. Regarding postprocessing of the classifications for sound control, two quite different mapping systems have been developed - to different extents. Both control different musical aspects, although at different intervals. The first system is trigger-based and inspired by the concept of hypermusic (Machover, 2004). However, for reasons that will become apparent, further development of this system has been put on hold. The second (and latest) system is for multi-channel continuous normalized parameter control

A rubric based approach towards Automated Essay Grading : focusing on high level content issues and ideas

Assessment of a student’s work is by no means an easy task. Even if the student response is in the form of multiple choice answers, manually marking those answer sheets is a task that most teachers regard as rather tedious. The development of an automated method to grade these essays was thus an inevitable step.This thesis proposes a novel approach towards Automated Essay Grading through the use of various concepts found within the field of Narratology. Through a review of the literature, several methods in which essays are graded were identified together with some of the problems. Mainly, the issues and challenges that plague AEG systems were that those following the statistical approach needed a way to deal with more implicit features of free text, while other systems which did manage that were highly dependent on the type of student response, the systems having pre-knowledge pertaining to the subject domain in addition to requiring more computational power. It was also found that while narrative essays are one of the main methods in which a student might be able to showcase his/her mastery over the English language, no system thus far has attempted to incorporate narrative concepts into analysing these type of free text responses.It was decided that the proposed solution would be centred on the detection of Events, which was in turn used to determine the score an essay receives under the criteria of Audience, Ideas, Character and Setting and Cohesion, as defined by the NAPLAN rubric. From the results gathered from experiments conducted on the four criteria mentioned above, it was concluded that the concept of detecting Events as they were within a narrative type story when applied to essay grading, does have a relation towards the score the essay receives. All experiments achieved an average F-measure score of 0.65 and above while exact agreement rates were no lower than 70%. Chi-squared and paired T-test values all indicated that there was insufficient evidence to show that there was any significant difference between the scores generated by the computer and those of the human markers

Distribution of allele frequencies at TTN g.231054C > T, RPL27A g.3109537C > T and AKIRIN2 c.*188G > A between Japanese Black and four other cattle breeds with differing historical selection for marbling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Marbling defined by the amount and distribution of intramuscular fat, so-called <it>Shimofuri</it>, is an economically important trait of beef cattle in Japan. Our previous study detected 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), <it>g.231054C > T</it>, <it>g.3109537C > T </it>and <it>c.*188G > A</it>, respectively, in the 5' flanking region of the <it>titin </it>(<it>TTN</it>), the 5' flanking region of the <it>ribosomal protein L27a </it>(<it>RPL27A</it>) and the 3' untranslated region of the <it>akirin 2 </it>genes (<it>AKIRIN2</it>), which have been considered as positional functional candidates for the genes responsible for marbling, and showed association of these SNPs with marbling in Japanese Black beef cattle. In the present study, we investigated the allele frequency distribution of the 3 SNPs among the 5 cattle breeds, Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Shorthorn, Holstein and Brown Swiss breeds.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We genotyped the <it>TTN g.231054C > T</it>, <it>RPL27A g.3109537C > T </it>and <it>AKIRIN2 c.*188G > A </it>SNPs by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method, using 101 sires and 1,705 paternal half sib progeny steers from 8 sires for Japanese Black, 86 sires and 27 paternal half sib progeny steers from 3 sires for Japanese Brown, 79 sires and 264 paternal half sib progeny steers from 14 sires for Japanese Shorthorn, 119 unrelated cows for Holstein, and 118 unrelated cows for Brown Swiss breeds. As compared to the frequencies of the <it>g.231054C > T T</it>, <it>g.3109537C > T T </it>and <it>c.*188G > A A </it>alleles, associated with high marbling, in Japanese Black breed that has been subjected to a strong selection for high marbling, those in the breeds, Japanese Shorthorn, Holstein and Brown Swiss breeds, that have not been selected for high marbling were null or lower. The Japanese Brown breed selected slightly for high marbling showed lower frequency than Japanese Black breed in the <it>g.3109537C > T T </it>allele, whereas no differences were detected between the 2 breeds in the frequencies of the <it>g.231054C > T T </it>and <it>c.*188G > A A </it>alleles.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on this finding, we hypothesized that the pressure of the strong selection for high marbling in Japanese Black breed has increased the frequencies of the <it>T</it>, <it>T </it>and <it>A </it>alleles at the <it>TTN g.231054C > T</it>, <it>RPL27A g.3109537C > T </it>and <it>AKIRIN2 c.*188G > A </it>SNPs, respectively. This study, together with the previous association studies, suggested that the 3 SNPs may be useful for effective marker-assisted selection to increase the levels of marbling.</p

Should reporting of peri-neural invasion and extra prostatic extension be mandatory in prostate cancer biopsies? correlation with outcome in biopsy cases treated conservatively.

The identification of perineural invasion (PNI) and extraprostatic extension (ECE) in prostate cancer (PC) biopsies is time consuming and can be difficult. Although this is required information in many datasets, there is little evidence on their effect on outcome in patients treated conservatively. Cases of PC were identified from three cancer registries in the UK from men with clinically localized prostate cancer diagnosed by needle biopsy from 1990-2003. The endpoint was prostate cancer death (DOD). Patients treated radically within 6 months, those with objective evidence of metastases or who had prior hormone therapy were excluded. Follow-up was through cancer registries up until 2012. Deaths were divided into those from PC and those from other causes, according to WHO criteria. 988 biopsy cases (6522 biopsy cores) were centrally reviewed by three uropathologists and assigned a Gleason score and Grade Group (GG). The presence of both PNI and ECE was recorded. Of 988 patients, PNI was present in 288 (DOD = 75) and ECE in 23 (DOD = 5). On univariable analysis PNI was highly significantly associated with DOD (hazard ratio [HR] 2.28, 95% CI: 1.68, 3.1, log-rank test p-value = 4.8 × 10-8), but ECE was not (log-rank test p-value = 0.334). On multivariable analysis with GG, serum PSA (per 10%), clinical stage and extent of disease (per 10%), PNI lost significance (HR 1.16, 95% CI: 0.83, 1.63, likelihood ratio test p-value = 0.371). The utility of routinely examining prostate biopsies for ECE and PNI is doubtful as it is not independently associated with higher grade, stage or prognosis.Cancer Research UK, ORCHID, a SPORE grant from the US National Cancer Institute (P50CA09629), the David H. Koch Fund and Myriad Genetic

The international society for traumatic stress studies new guidelines for the prevention and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: methodology and development process

Over the last two decades, treatment guidelines have become major aids in the delivery of evidence‐based care and improvement of clinical outcomes. The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) produced the first guidelines for the prevention and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2000 and published its latest recommendations, along with position papers on complex PTSD (CPTSD), in November 2018. A rigorous methodology was developed and followed; scoping questions were posed, systematic reviews were undertaken, and 361 randomized controlled trials were included according to the a priori agreed inclusion criteria. In total, 208 meta‐analyses were conducted and used to generate 125 recommendations (101 for adults and 24 for children and adolescents) for specific prevention and treatment interventions, using an agreed definition of clinical importance and recommendation setting algorithm. There were eight strong, eight standard, five low effect, 26 emerging evidence, and 78 insufficient evidence to recommend recommendations. The inclusion of separate scoping questions on treatments for complex presentations of PTSD was considered but decided against due to definitional issues and the virtual absence of studies specifically designed to clearly answer possible scoping questions in this area. Narrative reviews were undertaken and position papers prepared (one for adults and one for children and adolescents) to consider the current issues around CPTSD and make recommendations to facilitate further research. This paper describes the methodology and results of the ISTSS Guideline process and considers the interpretation and implementation of the recommendations