scholarly journals Look out: an exploratory study assessing how gaze (eye angle and head angle) and gait speed are influenced by surface complexity

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8838
Author(s):  
Nicholas D.A. Thomas ◽  
James D. Gardiner ◽  
Robin H. Crompton ◽  
Rebecca Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Gait Speed ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Complex Surfaces ◽  
Significant Difference

Background Most research investigating the connection between walking and visual behaviour has assessed only eye movements (not head orientation) in respect to locomotion over smooth surfaces in a laboratory. This is unlikely to reflect gaze changes found over the complex surfaces experienced in the real world, especially given that eye and head movements have rarely been assessed simultaneously. Research question How does gaze (eye and head) angle and gait speed change when walking over surfaces of different complexity? Methods In this exploratory study, we used a mobile eye tracker to monitor eye movements and inertia measurement unit sensors (IMUs) to measure head angle whilst subjects (n = 11) walked over surfaces with different complexities both indoors and outdoors. Gait speed was recorded from ankle IMUs. Results Overall, mean gaze angle was lowest over the most complex surface and this surface also elicited the slowest mean gait speed. The head contributed increasingly to the lowering of gaze with increased surface complexity. Less complex surfaces showed no significant difference between gaze and gait behaviour. Significance This study supports previous research showing that increased surface complexity is an important factor in determining gaze and gait behaviour. Moreover, it provides the novel finding that head movements provide important contributions to gaze location. Our future research aims are to further assess the role of the head in determining gaze location during locomotion across a greater range of complex surfaces to determine the key surface characteristics that influence gaze during gait.

What evidence is there that parenting interventions reduce child abuse and neglect among maltreating families? A systematic review

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-393
Author(s):  
Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs ◽  
Michael Tarren-Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parenting Interventions ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Abuse And Neglect

In families where child abuse and neglect have already occurred, there is a strong imperative to provide interventions that reduce or eliminate harm done to children. Parenting programs lack tailoring for the needs of maltreating parents, and maltreating parents themselves are a heterogeneous group with varying needs. The literature on the effectiveness of parenting interventions for high-risk parents is limited, and this scarcity of knowledge can result in child protection cases being treated as a natural experiment. For children who experience ongoing maltreatment by their parents, the most stringent test for effectiveness goes beyond an improvement in positive parenting skills—child abuse and neglect must reduce or be eliminated. The present review addressed the research question What evidence is there that parenting interventions conducted with parents who maltreat their children, reduce the incidence of further child maltreatment? Databases were searched for trials of parenting interventions where participants were maltreating parents and outcome data included an objective measure of child abuse and neglect. Nine studies satisfied the selection criteria and are summarized. Four studies reported a statistically significant difference between groups in favor of the intervention group for two parenting interventions, Parent–Child Interaction Therapy and SafeCare. However, the review concludes that none of the reviewed parenting interventions have been demonstrated to be effective at reducing all types of child maltreatment through a high-quality RCT. Previous research is compromised by several critical methodological limitations, including low participant recruitment and retention, and narrow selection criteria. Recommendations are offered for future research on parenting interventions that aim to reduce child abuse and neglect.

scholarly journals Generation of Head Movements of a Robot Using Multimodal Features of Peer Participants in Group Discussion Conversation

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Hung-Hsuan Huang ◽  
Seiya Kimura ◽  
Kazuhiro Kuwabara ◽  
Toyoaki Nishida
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Multimodal Features ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Behavior Frequency

In recent years, companies have been seeking communication skills from their employees. Increasingly more companies have adopted group discussions during their recruitment process to evaluate the applicants’ communication skills. However, the opportunity to improve communication skills in group discussions is limited because of the lack of partners. To solve this issue as a long-term goal, the aim of this study is to build an autonomous robot that can participate in group discussions, so that its users can repeatedly practice with it. This robot, therefore, has to perform humanlike behaviors with which the users can interact. In this study, the focus was on the generation of two of these behaviors regarding the head of the robot. One is directing its attention to either of the following targets: the other participants or the materials placed on the table. The second is to determine the timings of the robot’s nods. These generation models are considered in three situations: when the robot is speaking, when the robot is listening, and when no participant including the robot is speaking. The research question is: whether these behaviors can be generated end-to-end from and only from the features of peer participants. This work is based on a data corpus containing 2.5 h of the discussion sessions of 10 four-person groups. Multimodal features, including the attention of other participants, voice prosody, head movements, and speech turns extracted from the corpus, were used to train support vector machine models for the generation of the two behaviors. The performances of the generation models of attentional focus were in an F-measure range between 0.4 and 0.6. The nodding model had an accuracy of approximately 0.65. Both experiments were conducted in the setting of leave-one-subject-out cross validation. To measure the perceived naturalness of the generated behaviors, a subject experiment was conducted. In the experiment, the proposed models were compared. They were based on a data-driven method with two baselines: (1) a simple statistical model based on behavior frequency and (2) raw experimental data. The evaluation was based on the observation of video clips, in which one of the subjects was replaced by a robot performing head movements in the above-mentioned three conditions. The experimental results showed that there was no significant difference from original human behaviors in the data corpus and proved the effectiveness of the proposed models.

scholarly journals Krebs von den Lungen 6 (KL-6) as a marker for disease severity and persistent radiological abnormalities following COVID-19 infection at 12 weeks

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249607
Author(s):  
David T. Arnold ◽  
Charmaine Donald ◽  
Max Lyon ◽  
Fergus W. Hamilton ◽  
Anna J. Morley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Injury ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Clinical Severity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pulmonary Epithelial Cell ◽  
Dysfunctional Breathing

Introduction Acute presentations of COVID-19 infection vary, ranging from asymptomatic carriage through to severe clinical manifestations including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Longer term sequelae of COVID-19 infection includes lung fibrosis in a proportion of patients. Krebs von den Lungen 6 (KL-6) is a mucin like glycoprotein that has been proposed as a marker of pulmonary epithelial cell injury. We sought to determine whether KL-6 was a marker of 1) the severity of acute COVID-19 infection, or 2) the persistence of symptoms/radiological abnormalities at medium term follow up. Methods Prospective single centre observational study. Results Convalescent KL-6 levels were available for 93 patients (male 63%, mean age 55.8 years) who attended an 12-week follow up appointment after being admitted to hospital with COVID-19. For 67 patients a baseline KL-6 result was available for comparison. There was no significant correlations between baseline KL-6 and the admission CXR severity score or clinical severity NEWS score. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the baseline KL-6 level and an initial requirement for oxygen on admission or the severity of acute infection as measured at 28 days. There was no significant difference in the 12-week KL-6 level and the presence or absence of subjective breathlessness but patients with abnormal CT scans at 12 weeks had significantly higher convalescent KL-6 levels compared to the remainder of the cohort (median 1101 IU/ml vs 409 IU/ml). Conclusions The association between high KL-6 levels at 12 weeks and persisting CT abnormalities (GGO/fibrosis), is a finding that requires further exploration. Whether KL-6 may help differentiate those patients with persisting dyspnoea due to complications rather than deconditioning or dysfunctional breathing alone, is an important future research question.

INITIAL STEP OF SPECIALIZED CORPORA BUILDING: CLEANING PROCEDURES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Yakubson ◽  
Victor Zakharov
Keyword(s):  
Text Processing ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Linguistic Annotation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cleaning Procedures ◽  
Unique Source ◽  
Future Work

This paper deals with the specialized corpora building, specifically academic language corpus in the biotechnology field. Being a part of larger research devoted to creation and usage of specialized parallel corpus, this piece aims to analyze the initial step of corpus building. Our main research question was what procedures we need to implement to the texts before using them to develop the corpus. Analysis of previous research showed the significant quantity of papers devoted to corpora creation, including academic specialized corpora. Different sides of the process were analyzed in these researches, including the types of texts used, the principles of crawling, the recommended length of texts etc. As to the text processing for the needs of corpora creation, only the linguistic annotation issues were examined earlier. At the same time, the preliminary cleaning of texts before their usage in corpora may have significant influence on the corpus quality and its utility for the linguistic research. In this paper, we considered three small corpora derived from the same set of academic texts in the biotechnology field: “raw” corpus without any preliminary cleaning and two corpora with different level of cleaning. Using different Sketch Engine tools, we analyzed these corpora from the position of their future users, predominantly as sources for academic wordlists and specialized multi-word units. The conducted research showed very little difference between two cleaned corpora, meaning that only basic cleaning procedures such as removal of reference lists are can be useful in corpora design. At the same time, we found a significant difference between raw and cleaned corpora and argue that this difference can affect the quality of wordlists and multi-word terms extraction, therefore these cleaning procedures are meaningful. The main limitation of the study is that all texts were taken from the unique source, so the conclusions could be affected by this specific journal’s peculiarities. Therefore, the future work should be the verification of results on different text collections

scholarly journals Measuring Digital Competence and ICT Literacy: An Exploratory Study of In-Service English Language Teachers in the Context of Saudi Arabia

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdulteeef M. Al Khateeb
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Ict Literacy ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
English Language Teachers

The purpose of this research is to measure in-service English language teachers' digital competence, particularly for the enhancement of teaching English as a second/foreign language in schools in Saudi Arabia. Information and communication technology (ICT) knowledge is currently considered as a vital skill for foreign language teachers in addition to their linguistic competence. Recently, there has been a focus on digital competence, since it can be regarded as a gateway for enriching knowledge, economies, societies and individuals. There is also a massive need for teachers to assess their own digital competence according to non-conventional norms (i.e., having the ability to share content and manage information). In light of this rationale, this paper investigates the following research question: to what extent are English language teachers in Saudi Arabia digitally competent and in what aspects? This study used a standardized questionnaire that was constructed using a validated comprehensive framework. This instrument was designed to assess the professional capability of English language teachers in terms of their willingness and readiness to use ICTs along with their current digital competence used throughout their teaching and educational practices. The research included a diverse range of participants who come from various backgrounds, genders and experiences. The study was concluded with a presentation of useful recommendations and key research questions for future research.

Marital Satisfaction of Portuguese Families in Times of Social Lockdown

2021 ◽  
pp. 106648072110098
Author(s):  
Carla Sílvia Fernandes ◽  
Bruno Magalhães ◽  
Sílvia Silva ◽  
Beatriz Edra
Keyword(s):  
Marital Satisfaction ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Marital Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global threat and crisis situation, and its wide-reaching impact has also affected marital satisfaction. Dysfunction of the marital system puts the survival of the family unit at risk. This research aimed to determine the level of marital satisfaction of Portuguese families during the social lockdown and the association between the variables under study. A descriptive, exploratory study was conducted. During the social lockdown, 276 people of Portuguese nationality and residing in Portugal were recruited using nonprobabilistic convenience sampling. Marital satisfaction in the pandemic phase showed low values that may be associated with the social, economic, and political context experienced by the pandemic situation. Future research must be carried out in order to identify, prevent, and intervene in situations of violence. In addition, future research should explore not only marital satisfaction during the current pandemic but a more systemic assessment of marital relations during crises, expanding the impact of marital satisfaction in family functioning.

scholarly journals Gait Speed as a Predictor for Diabetes Incidence in People with or at Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Longitudinal Analysis from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4414
Author(s):  
Aqeel M. Alenazi ◽  
Bader A. Alqahtani ◽  
Vishal Vennu ◽  
Mohammed M. Alshehri ◽  
Ahmad D. Alanazi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Gait Speed ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Incident Diabetes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cutoff Score ◽  
Diabetes Incidence ◽  
Knee Oa ◽  
Osteoarthritis Initiative

Background: This study examined the association between baseline gait speed with incident diabetes mellitus (DM) among people with or at elevated risk for knee OA. Materials and Methods: Participants from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, aged 45 to 79 years, where included. Participants with or at risk of knee OA from baseline to the 96-month visit were included. Participants with self-reported DM at baseline were excluded. DM incidence was followed over the 4-time points. Gait speed was measured at baseline using a 20-m walk test. Generalized estimating equations with logistic regression were utilized for analyses. Receiver operator characteristic curves and area under the curve were used to determine the cutoff score for baseline speed. Results: Of the 4313 participants included in the analyses (58.7% females), 301 participants had a cumulative incidence of DM of 7.0% during follow-up. Decreased gait speed was a significant predictor of incident DM (RR 0.44, p = 0.018). The threshold for baseline gait speed that predicted incident DM was 1.32 m/s with an area under the curve of 0.59 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Baseline gait speed could be an important screening tool for identifying people at risk of incident diabetes, and the determined cutoff value for gait speed should be examined in future research.

Quantitative assessment of self-treated canalith repositioning procedures using inertial measurement unit sensors

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Chiheon Kwon ◽  
Yunseo Ku ◽  
Shinhye Seo ◽  
Eunsook Jang ◽  
Hyoun-Joong Kong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Large Error ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
The Self ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Epley Maneuver ◽  
Head Rotations

BACKGROUND: Low success and high recurrence of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) after home-based self-treated Epley and Barbeque (BBQ) roll maneuvers is an important issue. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the cause of low success rate of self-treated Epley and BBQ roll maneuvers and provide a clinically acceptable criterion to guide self-treatment head rotations. METHODS: Twenty-five participants without active BPPV wore a custom head-mount rotation monitoring device for objective measurements. Self-treatment and specialist-assisted maneuvers were compared for head rotation accuracy. Absolute differences between the head rotation evaluation criteria (American Academy of Otolaryngology guidelines) and measured rotation angles were considered as errors. Self-treatment and specialist-treated errors in maneuvers were compared. Between-trial variations and age effects were evaluated. RESULTS: A significantly large error and between-trial variation occurred in step 4 of the self-treated Epley maneuver, with a considerable error in the second trial. The cumulative error of all steps of self-treated BBQ roll maneuver was significantly large. Age effect occurred only in the self-treated BBQ roll maneuver. Errors in specialist-treated maneuvers ranged from 10 to 20 degrees. CONCLUSIONS: Real-time feedback of head movements during simultaneous head-body rotations could increase success rates of self-treatments. Specialist-treated maneuvers can be used as permissible rotation margin criteria.

scholarly journals Geosocial Networking Apps Use Among Sexual Minority Men in Ecuador: An Exploratory Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Hermosa-Bosano ◽  
Paula Hidalgo-Andrade ◽  
Clara Paz
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Romantic Relationship ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sexual Minority Men ◽  
Geosocial Networking ◽  
Minority Men ◽  
Geosocial Networking Apps ◽  
Latin American Countries

AbstractGeosocial networking applications (GSN apps) have become important socialization contexts for sexual minority men (SMM). Despite their popularity, there is limited research carried out in Latin American countries and no single previous study done in Ecuador. To fill this gap, this exploratory study described and analyzed the relationships between the sociodemographic characteristics of SMM using GSN apps, their sought and fulfilled expectations, profile shared and sought characteristics, and the evaluation of their experiences as users including their perceptions of support, and discrimination. We used an online recruited sample of 303 participants enrolled between November 2019 and January 2020. Most respondents used Grindr and reported spending up to 3 h per day using apps. Most common sought expectations were getting distracted, meeting new friends, and meeting people for sexual encounters. The least met expectation was meeting someone to build a romantic relationship with. When asked about their profiles, participants reported sharing mainly their age, photographs, and sexual role. Participants also prioritized these characteristics when looking at others’ profiles. When asked about their experiences, most reported having been discriminated against, weight being the main reason for it. Some participants also indicated having received emotional support from other users. Correlation analyses indicated significant but weak relationships among the variables. Results indicated a positive correlation between time as an active GSN app user and higher experiences of discrimination. Likewise, higher number of used apps related positively with levels of received support. These results provide information that could inform future research in the country and the region regarding GSN apps use among SMM, socialization practices, and modern dating tools.

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