The Profile of Task Performances for Cognitive-communicative Intervention in the Oldest-Old

Purpose: The “oldest-old” is the heterogeneous population compared with the younger-old in several cognitive-communication aspects. Accordingly, it is necessary to intervene in them discriminately. This study aimed to suggest the performance profiles by cognitive-communication tasks for intervention in oldest-old.Methods: Sixty-four oldest-old subjects aged 80 or older years performed 16 subtasks for the five cognitive-communication domains. And the performance profiles of group I (84.00 ± 2.62 years) and II (93.38 ± 1.61 years) were analyzed.Results: The main findings were as follows. Firstly, two groups had significant differences in performances of most tasks including working memory, reasoning, word fluency, and subjective communication. Secondly, five communication tasks were significantly correlated with all cognitive tasks and were predicted by the reasoning tasks like similarity in group I. Thirdly, word fluency and pragmatic expression tasks were significantly correlated with all cognitive tasks. Tasks including verbal problem solving were found to be the best predictors of confrontation naming in group II.Conclusion: Current study provides evidence-based information to support cognitive-communication intervention for the oldest-old. These results also can contribute to increase the efficacy of the cognitive-communicative intervention.

Parallel Privacy-Preserving Shortest Path Algorithms

In this paper, we propose and present secure multiparty computation (SMC) protocols for single-source shortest distance (SSSD) and all-pairs shortest distance (APSD) in sparse and dense graphs. Our protocols follow the structure of classical algorithms—Bellman–Ford and Dijkstra for SSSD; Johnson, Floyd–Warshall, and transitive closure for APSD. As the computational platforms offered by SMC protocol sets have performance profiles that differ from typical processors, we had to perform extensive changes to the structure (including their control flow and memory accesses) and the details of these algorithms in order to obtain good performance. We implemented our protocols on top of the secret sharing based protocol set offered by the Sharemind SMC platform, using single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) operations as much as possible to reduce the round complexity. We benchmarked our protocols under several different parameters for network performance and compared our performance figures against each other and with ones reported previously.

Exploring Differential-Based Distinguishers and Forgeries for ASCON

Automated methods have become crucial components when searching for distinguishers against symmetric-key cryptographic primitives. While MILP and SAT solvers are among the most popular tools to model ciphers and perform cryptanalysis, other methods with different performance profiles are appearing. In this article, we explore the use of Constraint Programming (CP) for differential cryptanalysis on the Ascon authenticated encryption family (first choice of the CAESAR lightweight applications portfolio and current finalist of the NIST LWC competition) and its internal permutation. We first present a search methodology for finding differential characteristics for Ascon with CP, which can easily find the best differential characteristics already reported by the Ascon designers. This shows the capability of CP in generating easily good differential results compared to dedicated search heuristics. Based on our tool, we also parametrize the search strategies in CP to generate other differential characteristics with the goal of forming limited-birthday distinguishers for 4, 5, 6 and 7 rounds and rectangle attacks for 4 and 5 rounds of the Ascon internal permutation. We propose a categorization of the distinguishers into black-box and non-black-box to better differentiate them as they are often useful in different contexts. We also obtained limited-birthday distinguishers which represent currently the best known distinguishers for 4, 5 and 6 rounds under the category of non-black-box distinguishers. Leveraging again our tool, we have generated forgery attacks against both reduced-rounds Ascon-128 and Ascon-128a, improving over the best reported results at the time of writing. Finally, using the best differential characteristic we have found for 2 rounds, we could also improve a recent attack on round-reduced Ascon-Hash.

Physiotherapy Students’ Performance in Clinical Education: An Analysis of 1 Year of Canadian Cross-Sectional Data

Purpose: This research examines 1 year of cross-sectional, Canada-wide ratings from clinical instructors using the Canadian Physiotherapy Assessment of Clinical Performance (ACP) and analyzes the performance profiles of physiotherapy students’ performance ratings over the course of their entry-to-practice clinical placements. Method: Canadian physiotherapy programmes that use the ACP were invited to submit anonymized, cross-sectional data for placements completed during 2018. Descriptive analyses and summary statistics were completed. Mixed-effects modelling was used to create typical performance profiles for each evaluation criterion in the ACP. Stepwise ordered logistic regression was also completed. Results: Ten programmes contributed data on 3,290 placements. Profiles were generated for each ACP evaluative item by means of mixed-effects modelling; three profiles are presented. In all cases, the predicted typical performance by the end of 24 months of study was approximately the rating corresponding to entry level. Subtle differences among profiles were identified, including the rate at which a student may be predicted to receive a rating of “entry level.” Conclusions: This analysis identified that, in 2018, the majority of Canadian physiotherapy students were successful on clinical placements and typically achieved a rating of “entry level” on ACP items at the end of 24 months.

An analysis of verbal fluency task performance profiles in patients with vascular brain pathology

Aim: Considering the data on the important role of verbal fluency tasks in neuropsychological diagnosis and the models of hemispherically specialised modulation of processes essential for different types of verbal fluency, we made an attempt to identify differences in correct and incorrect performance of 5 verbal fluency tasks between patients with vascular cerebral pathology, including hypertension, and healthy individuals. We also analysed task performance profiles within the groups. Materials and methods: The study included healthy volunteers (n = 36), hypertensive individuals (n = 33), and patients after left (n = 15) or right hemisphere stroke (n = 30) – 114 subjects in total. We used the Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test (FAST) to exclude patients with significant language difficulties/aphasia. We used 5 verbal fluency tasks: semantic (Animals), phonemic (“k”), verb fluency and two emotional tasks: Joy and Fear. We used general linear models for repeated measures for the analysis of correctly and incorrectly performed tasks. Results: The profiles of correct responses for all 5 tasks were similar in all groups, with quantitative intergroup differences. The highest number of correct responses appeared in the semantic, phonemic and verb fluency tasks, whereas the lowest number in the emotional tasks. Hypertensive individuals scored statistically insignificantly lower than healthy individuals, whereas patients after right/left hemisphere stroke scored significantly lower compared to both these groups. Despite a large number of errors, healthy individuals had the highest scores. Patients after right hemisphere stroke showed little differentiation in the number of correct responses in subsequent tasks. There were no intergroup differences in the level of performance of emotional tasks with different valences (positive and negative). Healthy and hypertensive individuals were characterised by a distinct heterogeneity of correct and incorrect responses in various tasks. Patients with brain pathology, regardless of its lateralisation, performed these tasks at a similar level, with left hemisphere damage resulting in the highest number of errors, mainly in semantic and phonemic tasks, and with right hemisphere pathology associated with errors in all types of tasks. The difficulties in patients with left hemisphere damage may result from weaker phonological and lexical processes, including access to semantic features of a word, while the low scores of patients with right hemisphere damage may be a consequence of impaired attention and executive processes. Conclusions: Patients with vascular pathology of the brain hemispheres achieved significantly lower scores in all types of fluency, while hypertensive individuals scored insignificantly lower than healthy subjects. This means that the method can be useful in differentiating between healthy individuals and patients with central nervous system damage, as well as those at risk. Future research should focus on a detailed analysis of the types of errors made by patients with hemispheric damage in various types of verbal fluency tasks. An analysis of the location of the pathology in the anterior-posterior dimension of each hemisphere could reveal specific features of verbal fluency.

Learning Basketball Using Direct Instruction and Tactical Game Approach Methodologies

This study was to analyze and compare the learning acquired by the students in the sport of basketball in two different methodologies. The sample was composed of 40 students divided into two groups. The intervention programs had previously been validated. A descriptive analysis of the learning indicators, a t-test for independent samples to identify the differences between the methods, and a t-test for related samples to analyze the differences in each group were performed. There are differences between the performance profiles of students in the Direct Instruction in Basketball program and those in the Tactical Game in Basketball program in nine variables. Significant differences are found in the situations of dribbling, shooting, passing and movement, spacing, off-ball defense, and help and in the performance indicator for decision making, execution, and total, which are favorable to the Tactical Game in Basketball program. The students of the Direct Instruction in Basketball program only improved in three variables after the program, while the Tactical Game in Basketball students improved in thirteen variables. It is recommended that the teachers at the schools use the Tactical Game in Basketball methodology for their basketball teaching lessons, because student learning is better than in the Direct Instruction in Basketball program.

Physical Fitness of Female Soccer Players Based on Playing Position

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into female soccer players’ physical performance profiles by observing their position in the field. The sample consisted of 17 athletes who were involved in regional training at the Papua National Sports Week (PON) 2021. The players were divided into three subgroups based on their position, including specific strikers, midfielders, and backs. The samples performed 10 item tests measuring physical performance components. Based on the playing position, there was no difference of BMI among the strikers, midfielders, and backs (F = 0.174, p 0.05). The results of the bleep test showed no difference (F = 0.466, p 0.05). The results of leg dynamometer (F = 0.898, p 0.05), back dynamometer (F = 1.350, p 0.05), and sit and reach (F = 0.543, p 0.05) also showed no difference. There was also no difference in measurement results of hand dynamometer pull (F = 0.028, p 0.05) and push (F = 1.107, p 0.05). Moreover, the result of 50-meter sprint (F = 0.404, p 0.05), sit up (F = 0.493, p 0.05), push up (F = 2.204, p 0.05), and shuttle run (F = 0.991, p 0.05) also showed no difference. We believe that a female football player athletic ability is unaffected by their position in the field. The absence of variation in physical ability observed among female soccer players may be attributed to BMI. Coaches may use these results as reference data to classify strengths, select players, and monitor the preparation.

Market Perspectives and Future Fields of Application of Odor Detection Biosensors within the Biological Transformation—A Systematic Analysis

The technological advantages that biosensors have over conventional technical sensors for odor detection and the role they play in the biological transformation have not yet been comprehensively analyzed. However, this is necessary for assessing their suitability for specific fields of application as well as their improvement and development goals. An overview of biological basics of olfactory systems is given and different odor sensor technologies are described and classified in this paper. Specific market potentials of biosensors for odor detection are identified by applying a tailored methodology that enables the derivation and systematic comparison of both the performance profiles of biosensors as well as the requirement profiles for various application fields. Therefore, the fulfillment of defined requirements is evaluated for biosensors by means of 16 selected technical criteria in order to determine a specific performance profile. Further, a selection of application fields, namely healthcare, food industry, agriculture, cosmetics, safety applications, environmental monitoring for odor detection sensors is derived to compare the importance of the criteria for each of the fields, leading to market-specific requirement profiles. The analysis reveals that the requirement criteria considered to be the most important ones across all application fields are high specificity, high selectivity, high repeat accuracy, high resolution, high accuracy, and high sensitivity. All these criteria, except for the repeat accuracy, can potentially be better met by biosensors than by technical sensors, according to the results obtained. Therefore, biosensor technology in general has a high application potential for all the areas of application under consideration. Health and safety applications especially are considered to have high potential for biosensors due to their correspondence between requirement and performance profiles. Special attention is paid to new areas of application that require multi-sensing capability. Application scenarios for multi-sensing biosensors are therefore derived. Moreover, the role of biosensors within the biological transformation is discussed.