Hierarchical structuring of Cultural Heritage objects within large aggregations

Huge amounts of cultural content have been digitised and are available through digital libraries and aggregators like Europeana.eu. However, it is not easy for a user to have an overall picture of what is available nor to find related objects. We propose a method for hier- archically structuring cultural objects at different similarity levels. We describe a fast, scalable clustering algorithm with an automated field selection method for finding semantic clusters. We report a qualitative evaluation on the cluster categories based on records from the UK and a quantitative one on the results from the complete Europeana dataset.Comment: The paper has been published in the proceedings of the TPDL conference, see http://tpdl2013.info. For the final version see http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-40501-3_2

Crowd-sourced collection of task-oriented human-human dialogues in a multi-domain scenario

There is a lack of high-quality corpora for the purposes of trainingtask-oriented, end-to-end dialogue systems. This paper describes a dialogue col-lection process which used crowd-sourcing and a Wizard-of-Oz set-up to collectwritten human-human dialogues for a task-oriented, multi-domain scenario. Thecontext is a tourism agency, where users try to select the more desired hotel,restaurant, museum or shop. To respond to users, wizards were assisted by an ex-ploratory system supporting Preference-enriched Faceted Search. An importantaspect was the translation of user intent to a number of actions (hard or soft-constraints) by wizards. The main goal was to collect dialogues as realistic aspossible between a user and an operator, suitable for training end-to-end dialoguesystems. This work describes the experiences made, the options and the deci-sions taken to minimize the human effort and budget, along with the tools usedand developed, and describes in detail the resulting dialogue collection

How common are vascular injuries in open tibial fractures? A prospective longitudinal cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Tibial fractures have an incidence of 15% of all adult fractures. They have been shown to have the highest incidence of non-union in long bone fractures and the highest incidence of vascular injury. Evidence from the literature suggests that a good vascular supply is important to ensure bone union. The aim of our study was to prospectively assess the incidence of vascular injuries in open tibial fractures and determine whether they were associated with an increased risk of non-union. METHODS: We performed a prospective study to investigate the incidence of arterial injuries with computed tomography angiography (CTA) in patients with Gustilo-Anderson grade I-III open tibial fractures between 2013 and 2015. CTA was performed with the trauma series at acute admission and reported by two independent musculoskeletal radiologists. Patients were followed up with clinical and radiographic assessment for 1 year. RESULTS: We recruited 77 patients into the study, and 56 patients (47 males, 9 females) were available for the final analysis, between 16 and 90 years of age. At the initial assessment, 29% had signs of arterial injury with active extravasation in 5%. The most common site of injury was in the diaphysis (87.5%), and the commonest mechanism was a road traffic accident. We found no significant relation between occult vascular injury and non-union (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The incidence of vascular injury in open tibial fractures is 29%, and CTA is therefore a useful test in identifying vascular injuries that may require vascular intervention

Психомоторное возбуждение и делирий у больных в критических состояниях и роль седации

Critically ill patients often receive analgesia and sedation to keep them comfortable and to prevent agitation and delirium, which are serious, common and yet frequently underdiagnosed forms of brain dysfunction in intensive care environment with unclear but often unfavorable contribution to patient outcomes. Apart from delirium assessment and screening the most important aspect of ICU management is understanding the drugs given to patients and their specific advantages and disadvantages. It is crucial for clinicians and units to develop guidelines and protocols for the administration of sedatives depending on the type of patient population. Newer drugs, such as dexmedetomidine and remifentanyl, should be introduced and extensively studied. The immunomodulating effects of sedation also must be explored, as these properties may greatly affect outcome. With an increased understanding of sedative drugs will come an improved ability to use multiple drugs at specific times during the course of hospital treatment. Key words: delirium, sedation, analgesia.Делирий и возбуждение являются распространенными, серьезными и часто недостаточно распознанными и диагностированными состояниями у больных в отделениях реаниматологии, и, потенциально, могут оказывать неблагоприятное влияние на результаты лечения. Как правило, для предотвращения этих состояний, больные в отделениях реаниматологии находятся под влиянием седативных препаратов и анальгетиков. Помимо диагностики делириозных состояний, одним из наиболее важных аспектов лечения в отделениях реаниматологии является четкое понимание механизмов действия отдельных препаратов, а также условий их применения с учетом преимуществ, недостатков и побочных эффектов. Мы считаем критически важным для врачей-клиницистов и руководства отделений реаниматологии разработку протоколов, регламентирующих назначение седативных препаратов, которые зависели бы от специфики и направленности каждого отделения и учреждения здравоохранения. Усилия должны быть также направлены на внедрение в практику новейших препаратов, таких как дексмедетомидин и ремифентанил. Ранее не принимавшиеся во внимание иммуномодулирующие свойства седативных веществ могут оказывать значительное влияние на результаты лечения и заслуживают тщательного изучения. Параллельно с улучшением нашего понимания того, как действуют те или иные препараты, будут расширяться и наши возможности по их использованию в зависимости от специфики заболевания и условий лечения. Ключеые слова: делирий, седация, анальгезия

Exploiting Available Memory and Disk for Scalable Instant Overview Search

Abstract. Search-As-You-Type (or Instant Search) is a recently intro-duced functionality which shows predictive results while the user types a query letter by letter. In this paper we generalize and propose an ex-tension of this technique which apart from showing on-the-fly the first page of results, it shows various other kinds of information, e.g. the outcome of results clustering techniques, or metadata-based groupings of the results. Although this functionality is more informative than the classic search-as-you type, since it combines Autocompletion, Search-As-You-Type, and Results Clustering, the provision of real-time interaction is more challenging. To tackle this issue we propose an approach based on pre-computed information and we comparatively evaluate various in-dex structures for making real-time interaction feasible, even if the size of the available memory space is limited. This comparison reveals the mem-ory/performance trade-off and allows deciding which index structure to use according to the available main memory and desired performance. Furthermore we show that an incremental algorithm can be used to keep the index structure fresh.

Extraction of Accurate Biomolecular Parameters from Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy Experiments

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is able to manipulate biomolecules and their complexes with exquisite force sensitivity and distance resolution. This capability, complemented by theoretical models, has greatly improved our understanding of the determinants of mechanical strength in proteins and revealed the diverse effects of directional forces on the energy landscape of biomolecules. In unbinding experiments, the interacting partners are usually immobilized on their respective substrates via extensible linkers. These linkers affect both the force and contour length (Lc) of the complex at rupture. Surprisingly, while the former effect is well understood, the latter is largely neglected, leading to incorrect estimations of Lc, a parameter that is often used as evidence for the detection of specific interactions and remodeling events and for the inference of interaction regions. To address this problem, a model that predicts contour length measurements from single-molecule forced-dissociation experiments is presented that considers attachment position on the AFM tip, geometric effects, and polymer dynamics of the linkers. Modeled data are compared with measured contour length distributions from several different experimental systems, revealing that current methods underestimate contour lengths. The model enables nonspecific interactions to be identified unequivocally, allows accurate determination of Lc, and, by comparing experimental and modeled distributions, enables partial unfolding events before rupture to be identified unequivocally

The supportive care needs of women experiencing gynaecological cancer: a Western Australian cross-sectional study

Background: Women diagnosed with gynaecological cancer experience supportive care needs that require care provision to reduce the impact on their lives. International evidence suggests supportive care needs of women with gynaecological cancer are not being met and provision of holistic care is a priority area for action. Knowledge on gynaecological cancer supportive care needs is limited, specifically comparison of needs and cancer gynaecological subtype. Our aim was to identify supportive care needs of Western Australian women experiencing gynaecological cancer, their satisfaction with help and explore associations between participant’s demographic characteristics and identified needs. Methods: A cross-sectional design incorporating a modified version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey - short form (SCNS-SF34) assessed 37 supportive care needs under five domains in conjunction with demographic data. Three hundred and forty three women with gynaecological cancer attending a tertiary public referral hospital completed the survey over 12 months. Statistical analysis was performed using the R environment for statistical computing. A linear regression model was fitted with factor scores for each domain and demographic characteristics as explanatory variables. Results: Three hundred and three women (83%) identified at least one moderate or high level supportive care need. The five highest ranked needs were, ‘being informed about your test results as soon as feasible’ (54.8%), ‘fears about cancer spreading’ (53.7%), ‘being treated like a person not just another case’ (51.9%), ‘being informed about cancer which is under control or diminishing (that is, remission)’ (50.7%), and ‘being adequately informed about the benefits and side-effects of treatments before you choose to have them’ (49.9%). Eight of the top ten needs were from the ‘health system and information’ domain. Associations between supportive care items and demographic variables revealed ‘cancer type’, and ‘time since completion of treatment’ had no impact on level of perceived need for any domain. Conclusions: Western Australian women with gynaecological cancer identified a high level of supportive care needs. The implementation of a supportive care screening tool is recommended to ensure needs are identified and care is patient-centred. Early identification and management of needs may help to reduce the burden on health system resources for managing ongoing needs

ELGAR - A European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research

Gravitational waves (GWs) were observed for the first time in 2015, one century after Einstein predicted their existence. There is now growing interest to extend the detection bandwidth to low frequency. The scientific potential of multi-frequency GW astronomy is enormous as it would enable to obtain a more complete picture of cosmic events and mechanisms. This is a unique and entirely new opportunity for the future of astronomy, the success of which depends upon the decisions being made on existing and new infrastructures. The prospect of combining observations from the future space-based instrument LISA together with third generation ground based detectors will open the way toward multi-band GW astronomy, but will leave the infrasound (0.1–10 Hz) band uncovered. GW detectors based on matter wave interferometry promise to fill such a sensitivity gap. We propose the European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research (ELGAR), an underground infrastructure based on the latest progress in atomic physics, to study space–time and gravitation with the primary goal of detecting GWs in the infrasound band. ELGAR will directly inherit from large research facilities now being built in Europe for the study of large scale atom interferometry and will drive new pan-European synergies from top research centers developing quantum sensors. ELGAR will measure GW radiation in the infrasound band with a peak strain sensitivity of 3.3 x 10 [hoch]-20 / [Wurzel] Hz at 1.7 Hz. The antenna will have an impact on diverse fundamental and applied research fields beyond GW astronomy, including gravitation, general relativity, and geology