Evaluation of a robot-assisted therapy for children with autism and intellectual disability

It is well established that robots can be suitable assistants in the care and treatment of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the majority of the research focuses on stand-alone interventions, high-functioning individuals and the success is evaluated via qualitative analysis of videos recorded during the interaction. In this paper, we present a preliminary evaluation of our on-going research on integrating robot-assisted therapy in the treatment of children with ASD and Intellectual Disability (ID), which is the most common case. The experiment described here integrates a robot-assisted imitation training in the standard treat‐ ment of six hospitalised children with various level of ID, who were engaged by a robot on imitative tasks and their progress assessed via a quantitative psycho- diagnostic tool. Results show success in the training and encourage the use of a robotic assistant in the care of children with ASD and ID with the exception of those with profound ID, who may need a different approach

Solitary waves in the Nonlinear Dirac Equation

In the present work, we consider the existence, stability, and dynamics of solitary waves in the nonlinear Dirac equation. We start by introducing the Soler model of self-interacting spinors, and discuss its localized waveforms in one, two, and three spatial dimensions and the equations they satisfy. We present the associated explicit solutions in one dimension and numerically obtain their analogues in higher dimensions. The stability is subsequently discussed from a theoretical perspective and then complemented with numerical computations. Finally, the dynamics of the solutions is explored and compared to its non-relativistic analogue, which is the nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation. A few special topics are also explored, including the discrete variant of the nonlinear Dirac equation and its solitary wave properties, as well as the PT-symmetric variant of the model

A personalized and platform-independent behavior control system for social robots in therapy: Development and applications

Social robots have been proven beneficial in different types of healthcare interventions. An ongoing trend is to develop (semi-)autonomous socially assistive robotic systems in healthcare context to improve the level of autonomy and reduce human workload. This paper presents a behavior control system for social robots in therapies with a focus on personalization and platform-independence. This system architecture provides the robot an ability to behave as a personable character, which behaviors are adapted to user profiles and responses during the human-robot interaction. Robot behaviors are designed at abstract levels and can be transferred to different social robot platforms. We adopt the component-based software engineering approach to implement our proposed architecture to allow for the replaceability and reusability of the developed components. We introduce three different experimental scenarios to validate the usability of our system. Results show that the system is potentially applicable to different therapies and social robots. With the component-based approach, the system can serve as a basic framework for researchers to customize and expand the system for their targeted healthcare applications

The stellar and sub-stellar IMF of simple and composite populations

The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing metallicity and in increasingly massive early-type galaxies. It declines quite steeply below about 0.07Msun with brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low mass stars having their own IMF. The most massive star of mass mmax formed in an embedded cluster with stellar mass Mecl correlates strongly with Mecl being a result of gravitation-driven but resource-limited growth and fragmentation induced starvation. There is no convincing evidence whatsoever that massive stars do form in isolation. Various methods of discretising a stellar population are introduced: optimal sampling leads to a mass distribution that perfectly represents the exact form of the desired IMF and the mmax-to-Mecl relation, while random sampling results in statistical variations of the shape of the IMF. The observed mmax-to-Mecl correlation and the small spread of IMF power-law indices together suggest that optimally sampling the IMF may be the more realistic description of star formation than random sampling from a universal IMF with a constant upper mass limit. Composite populations on galaxy scales, which are formed from many pc scale star formation events, need to be described by the integrated galactic IMF. This IGIMF varies systematically from top-light to top-heavy in dependence of galaxy type and star formation rate, with dramatic implications for theories of galaxy formation and evolution.Comment: 167 pages, 37 figures, 3 tables, published in Stellar Systems and Galactic Structure, Vol.5, Springer. This revised version is consistent with the published version and includes additional references and minor additions to the text as well as a recomputed Table 1. ISBN 978-90-481-8817-

Relation of tricuspid annular displacement and tissue Doppler imaging velocities with duration of weaning in mechanically ventilated patients with acute pulmonary edema

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Liberation from the ventilator is a difficult task, whereas early echocardiographic indices of weaning readiness are still lacking. The aim of this study was to test whether tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and right ventricular (RV) systolic (Sm) and diastolic (Em & Am) tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) velocities are related with duration of weaning in mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory failure due to acute pulmonary edema (APE).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Detailed quantification of left and right ventricular systolic and diastolic function was performed at admission to the Intensive Care Unit by Doppler echocardiography, in a cohort of 32 mechanically ventilated patients with APE. TAPSE and RV TDI velocities were compared between patients with and without prolonged weaning (≥ or < 7 days from the first weaning trial respectively), whereas their association with duration of ventilation and left ventricular (LV) echo-derived indices was tested with multivariate linear and logistic regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients with prolonged weaning (n = 12) had decreased TAPSE (14.59 ± 1.56 vs 19.13 ± 2.59 mm), Sm (8.68 ± 0.94 vs 11.62 ± 1.77 cm/sec) and Em/Am ratio (0.98 ± 0.80 vs 2.62 ± 0.67, p <0.001 for all comparisons) and increased Ε/e' (11.31 ± 1.02 vs 8.98 ± 1.70, p <0.001) compared with subjects without prolonged weaning (n = 20). Logistic regression analysis revealed that TAPSE (R²= 0.53, beta slope = 0.76, p < 0.001), Sm (R²= 0.52, beta = 0.75, p < 0.001) and Em/Am (R²= 0.57, beta = 0.32, p < 0.001) can predict length of weaning ≥ 7 days. The above measures were also proven to correlate significantly with Ε/e' (r = -0.83 for TAPSE, r = -0.87 for Sm and r = -0.79 for Em/Am, p < 0.001 for all comparisons).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We suggest that in mechanically ventilated patients with APE, low TAPSE and RV TDI velocities upon admission are associated with delayed liberation from mechanical ventilation, probably due to more severe LV heart failure.</p

The Gaia-ESO Survey: open clusters in Gaia-DR1 A way forward to stellar age calibration

Context. Determination and calibration of the ages of stars, which heavily rely on stellar evolutionary models, are very challenging, while representing a crucial aspect in many astrophysical areas. Aims. We describe the methodologies that, taking advantage of Gaia-DR1 and the Gaia-ESO Survey data, enable the comparison of observed open star cluster sequences with stellar evolutionary models. The final, long-term goal is the exploitation of open clusters as age calibrators. Methods. We perform a homogeneous analysis of eight open clusters using the Gaia-DR1 TGAS catalogue for bright members and information from the Gaia-ESO Survey for fainter stars. Cluster membership probabilities for the Gaia-ESO Survey targets are derived based on several spectroscopic tracers. The Gaia-ESO Survey also provides the cluster chemical composition. We obtain cluster parallaxes using two methods. The first one relies on the astrometric selection of a sample of bona fide members, while the other one fits the parallax distribution of a larger sample of TGAS sources. Ages and reddening values are recovered through a Bayesian analysis using the 2MASS magnitudes and three sets of standard models. Lithium depletion boundary (LDB) ages are also determined using literature observations and the same models employed for the Bayesian analysis. Results. For all but one cluster, parallaxes derived by us agree with those presented in Gaia Collaboration (2017, A&A, 601, A19), while a discrepancy is found for NGC 2516; we provide evidence supporting our own determination. Inferred cluster ages are robust against models and are generally consistent with literature values. Conclusions. The systematic parallax errors inherent in the Gaia DR1 data presently limit the precision of our results. Nevertheless, we have been able to place these eight clusters onto the same age scale for the first time, with good agreement between isochronal and LDB ages where there is overlap. Our approach appears promising and demonstrates the potential of combining Gaia and ground-based spectroscopic datasets.Based on data products from observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programme IDs 188.B-3002, 193.B.0936, and 197.B-1074. These data products have been processed by the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit (CASU) at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, and by the FLAMES/UVES reduction team at INAF/Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. These data have been obtained from the Gaia-ESO Survey Data Archive, prepared and hosted by the Wide Field Astronomy Unit, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, which is funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This research was made possible through the use of the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey (APASS), funded by the Robert Martin Ayers Sciences Fundation. This research has made use of the SIMBAD and VizieR databases, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System. This work was partly supported by the European Union FP7 programme through ERC grant number 320360 and by the Leverhulme Trust through grant RPG-2012-541. We acknowledge the support from INAF and Ministero dell’ Istruzione, dell’ Università’ e della Ricerca (MIUR) in the form of the grant “Premiale VLT 2012” and by PRIN-INAF 2014. The results presented here benefit from discussions held during the Gaia-ESO Survey workshops and conferences supported by the ESF (European Science Foundation) through the GREAT Research Network Programme. E.T., P.G.P.M. and S.D. acknowledge PRA Universitá di Pisa 2016 (Stelle di piccola massa: le pietre miliari dell’archeologia galattica, PI: S. Degl’Innocenti) and INFN (Iniziativa specifica TAsP). M.T.C. acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, through grant AYA2016-75931. U.H. acknowledges support from the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB/Rymdstyrelsen)

Sprouted Innervation into Uterine Transplants Contributes to the Development of Hyperalgesia in a Rat Model of Endometriosis

Endometriosis is an enigmatic painful disorder whose pain symptoms remain difficult to alleviate in large part because the disorder is defined by extrauteral endometrial growths whose contribution to pain is poorly understood. A rat model (ENDO) involves autotransplanting on abdominal arteries uterine segments that grow into vascularized cysts that become innervated with sensory and sympathetic fibers. ENDO rats exhibit vaginal hyperalgesia. We used behavioral, physiological, and immunohistochemical methods to test the hypothesis that cyst innervation contributes to the development of this hyperalgesia after transplant. Rudimentary sensory and sympathetic innervation appeared in the cysts at two weeks, sprouted further and more densely into the cyst wall by four weeks, and matured by six weeks post-transplant. Sensory fibers became abnormally functionally active between two and three weeks post-transplant, remaining active thereafter. Vaginal hyperalgesia became significant between four and five weeks post-transplant, and stabilized after six to eight weeks. Removing cysts before they acquired functional innervation prevented vaginal hyperalgesia from developing, whereas sham cyst removal did not. Thus, abnormally-active innervation of ectopic growths occurs before hyperalgesia develops, supporting the hypothesis. These findings suggest that painful endometriosis can be classified as a mixed inflammatory/neuropathic pain condition, which opens new avenues for pain relief. The findings also have implications beyond endometriosis by suggesting that functionality of any transplanted tissue can be influenced by the innervation it acquires

Додатковий том «Словника української мови»

У статті подано історію роботи над Додатковим томом «Словника української мови» в 11-ти томах, описано джерела наповнення реєстру, структуру словникових статей, наведено приклади розробки статей різного типу – як нововведених слів, так і таких, що були в «Словнику української мови» і зазнали доповнення. Завдання лексикографів, які працювали над Додатковим томом, – відобразити динаміку лексичного шару української мови 1980-их рр. ХХ ст. – початку ХХІ ст. з акцентуванням її інноваційних й актуалізованих аспектів

Global proteome changes in the rat diaphragm induced by endurance exercise training

Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a life-saving intervention for many critically ill patients. Unfor- tunately, prolonged MV results in the rapid development of diaphragmatic atrophy and weakness. Importantly, endurance exercise training results in a diaphragmatic phenotype that is protected against ventilator-induced diaphragmatic atrophy and weakness. The mechanisms responsible for this exercise-induced protection against ventilator-induced dia- phragmatic atrophy remain unknown. Therefore, to investigate exercise-induced changes in diaphragm muscle proteins, we compared the diaphragmatic proteome from sedentary and exercise-trained rats. Specifically, using label-free liquid chromatography-mass spectrome- try, we performed a proteomics analysis of both soluble proteins and mitochondrial proteins isolated from diaphragm muscle. The total number of diaphragm proteins profiled in the sol- uble protein fraction and mitochondrial protein fraction were 813 and 732, respectively. Endurance exercise training significantly (P<0.05, FDR <10%) altered the abundance of 70 proteins in the soluble diaphragm proteome and 25 proteins of the mitochondrial proteome. In particular, key cytoprotective proteins that increased in relative abundance following exer- cise training included mitochondrial fission process 1 (Mtfp1; MTP18), 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3MPST), microsomal glutathione S-transferase 3 (Mgst3; GST-III), and heat shock protein 70 kDa protein 1A/1B (HSP70). While these proteins are known to be cytoprotective in several cell types, the cyto-protective roles of these proteins have yet to be fully elucidated in diaphragm muscle fibers. Based upon these important findings, future experiments can now determine which of these diaphragmatic proteins are sufficient and/or required to promote exercise-induced protection against inactivity-induced muscle atrophy