221 research outputs found
Identity: Psychological perspectives
No full textA presentation by LJS Member Dr Stephen Blumenthal, clinical psychologist
and psychoanalysist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and
Queen Anne Practice, will be followed by a discussion led by LJS Member
Harriett Goldenberg, existential psychotherapist, teacher and author
Bounded Self-Weights Estimation Method for Non-Local Means Image Denoising Using Minimax Estimators
No full textA non-local means (NLM) filter is a weighted average of a large number of non-local pixels with various image intensity values. The NLM filters have been shown to have powerful denoising performance, excellent detail preservation by averaging many noisy pixels, and using appropriate values for the weights, respectively. The NLM weights between two different pixels are determined based on the similarities between two patches that surround these pixels and a smoothing parameter. Another important factor that influences the denoising performance is the self-weight values for the same pixel. The recently introduced local James-Stein type center pixel weight estimation method (LJS) outperforms other existing methods when determining the contribution of the center pixels in the NLM filter. However, the LJS method may result in excessively large self-weight estimates since no upper bound is assumed, and the method uses a relatively large local area for estimating the self-weights, which may lead to a strong bias. In this paper, we investigated these issues in the LJS method, and then propose a novel local self-weight estimation methods using direct bounds (LMM-DB) and reparametrization (LMM-RP) based on the Baranchik???s minimax estimator. Both the LMM-DB and LMM-RP methods were evaluated using a wide range of natural images and a clinical MRI image together with the various levels of additive Gaussian noise. Our proposed parameter selection methods yielded an improved bias-variance trade-off, a higher peak signal-to-noise (PSNR) ratio, and fewer visual artifacts when compared with the results of the classical NLM and LJS methods. Our proposed methods also provide a heuristic way to select a suitable global smoothing parameters that can yield PSNR values that are close to the optimal values.clos
The use of systematic reviews for conducting new studies in physiotherapy research: a meta-research study comparing author guidelines of physiotherapy-related journals
No full text<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>Requiring authors to base their research on a systematic review of the existing literature prevents the generation of redundant scientific studies, thereby avoiding the deprivation of effective therapies for trial participants and the waste of research funds. Scientific medical journals could require this in their author guidelines. While this applies to all areas of research, it is also relevant to physiotherapy and rehabilitation research, which predominantly involve interventional trials in patients.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Objective</jats:title>
<jats:p>The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the use of systematic reviews to justify a new trial is already being requested by physiotherapy-related scientific medical journals (PTJs). In addition, a comparison was made between PTJs and scientific medical journals with the highest impact factor in the Science Citation Index Extended (SCIE).</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>This meta-research study is based on a systematic examination of the author guidelines of 149 PTJs. The journals were identified and included based on the number of publications with physiotherapy as a keyword in the databases PEDro, and Medline (Pubmed). The included author guidelines were analysed for the extent to which they specified that a new trial should be justified by a systematic review of the literature. Additionally, they were compared with 14 scientific medical journals with the highest impact factor in the SCIE (LJs).</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>In their author guidelines, none of the included PTJs required or recommended the use of a systematic review to justify a new trial. Among LJs, four journals (28.57%), all associated with the Lancet group, required the study justification through a systematic review of the literature.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>
<jats:p>Neither PTJs nor LJs require or recommend the use of a systematic review to justify a new trial in their author guidelines. This potentially leaves room for unethical scientific practices and should be critically considered in future research.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
Comparison of the nutritional transition date distributions of marbled sole larvae and juveniles in Hakodate Bay, Hokkaido
No full textTo examine survival processes in marbled sole Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae larvae, nutritional-transition-date distributions (NTDDs) were compared between larvae and large juveniles (LJs) in Hakodate Bay from 2001 to 2003. NTDDs were used instead of hatch-date distributions because the onset of increment formation coincides with the timing of the transition from endogenous to exogenous nutritional sources for marbled sole. LJs were defined as being large enough to be safe from predation by the sand shrimp Crangon uritai. In 2001 and 2002, the ranges of the NTDDs of LJs largely overlapped with those of the larvae. However, in 2003, the early cohort (those whose otolith rings formed before 17 March) disappeared from the NTDDs during and after April, and the NTDDs of LJs were heavily biased toward a later period than those of the larvae. In 2003, Oyashio Coastal Water (< 3 ℃ and 33.0 salinity) unexpectedly intruded into the bay in late March and lowered the water temperature from 6.3 ℃ on 6 March to 4.1 ℃ on 25 March. One possible cause of mortality in the early cohort of 2003 might be feeding failure caused by the extremely low water temperature.マコガレイ仔魚の生残過程を調べるため、耳石日周輪解析を行い、内部栄養から外部栄養への転換日分布（以下：NTDD）を仔魚と稚魚との間で比較した。2001～2002年では、仔魚と稚魚のNTDDの範囲はおおむね重複していた。一方、2003年では3月17日以前に栄養転換した個体が4月以降のNTDDから消失していた。2003年には3月下旬に沿岸親潮が函館湾内へ流入し、湾内の水温が著しく低下した。この著しい低水温により3月17日以前に栄養転換した仔魚のほとんどが死亡した可能性が示唆された
Association of Job Strain With Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase Among Shift-Working Health Care Professionals in Laboratory and Field
No full textAlthough the prevalence of work-related stress has increased, knowledge on the contributions of that stress to long-term adverse health effects is still lacking. Stress biomarkers can reveal early signs of negative health effects, but no previous studies have measured both acute stress reactions and long-term exposure to job strain using both salivary cortisol and -amylase (AA). The present study examines the association between job strain and these biomarkers among shift-working female health care professionals in the laboratory and the field. The 95 participants were recruited from hospital wards categorized in either the top (high job strain [HJS] group, n = 42) or the bottom quartile of job strain (low job strain [LJS] group, n = 53), as rated by survey responses. Participants' self-perceived job strain was at least as high or low as the ward's average estimation. Saliva samples were collected during the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), preselected morning and night shifts, and a day off. There was a larger increase in the cortisol concentration of participants in the HJS than in the LJS group (2.27- vs. 1.48-fold, respectively, nonsignificant) during the TSST. Participants in the HJS group also had higher salivary AA levels 30 min after awakening on the morning-shift day than those in the LJS group (p = .02), whereas the salivary cortisol awakening response on the day off was higher in the LJS group (p = .05, education as a covariate). The remaining stress-biomarker results did not differ significantly between groups. These data suggest that HJS in shift-working health care professionals is weakly associated with changes in stress biomarkers.Peer reviewe
Collation Model for LJS 56: [Logica parva].
No full textCompendium by the author of his own Logica magna, a presentation of terminist logic, including consideration of propositions and relationships between propositions and meaning. This early copy of this text was completed by the German Carmelite Johannes de Beylario, who was from Cologne and studied philosophy and theology in Padua, during the author\u27s tenure in Padua. Later in the century the Logica parva became a required element of the curriculum at Padua, Venice, and Ferrara.https://repository.upenn.edu/sims_models/1075/thumbnail.jp
Lietuvos gyventojų lūkesčiai ir jų vertinimo galimybės
No full textIn the first part of the paper the historical development of consumer expectations, the evolution and estimation of themain expectations theories, the impact of economical expectations various economic processes are reviewed through the analysis ofliterature. The second part of the paper presents consumers surveys that provide a possibility to evaluate and track consumerexpectations.After the analysis of literature the author carried out a study to model alternative methods that could reflect consumer’sexpectations. The results of consumer surveys in Lithuania were the main information source for the research. In the researchprocess, the author analyzed the fluctuations and compositions of consumer confidence indicators.The conclusions and recommendations summarize the main concepts of the analysis literature and the main results of theresearch performed. The results of the study could be useful to economic policy-makers, business representatives, analysts and otherpersons concerned.Gyventojų lūkesčiai vertinami naudojant vartotojų nuomonių tyrimo rezultatus įvairiais pjūviais, skelbiamais Lietuvos statistikos departamento duomenų bazėje. Remiantis šiais duomenimis, analizuojamos gyventojų nuomonės apie namų ūkių finansinę padėtį, šalies ekonominę padėtį, galimybę įsigyti didesnius pirkinius ir galimybę sutaupyti kitimo tendencijos. Duomenų bazė suteikia galimybę tyrėjui atsižvelgti į gyventojų nuomonę apie infliacijos procesus bei nedarbo kitimo tendencijas. Priimant sprendimus vartoti ar investuoti svarbu įvertinti ne tik esamą situaciją, bet ir gyventojų nuomonę apie galimus pokyčius. Prielaida, kad gyventojai nurodė tikrąją savo nuomonę, remiasi tuo, kad jie yra suinteresuoti ir daro viską, kad kuo tiksliau įvertintų situaciją ir numatytų ateitį. Straipsnio pabaigoje pateikiamos vartotojų pasitikėjimo rodiklio tendencijos
The Commission's approach to the management of resources. Communication to the Council and Parliament. SEC (90) 1876 final, 10 October 1990.
No full textTekstų nehomogeniškumo tyrimas naudojant žymeklius
No full textThe aim of the paper is to assess the distributional non-homogeneity of texts in the usage of functional words andother linguistic units. Our empirical study is based on recommended school fiction works taken from a digital library athttp://ebiblioteka.mkp.emokykla.lt. Sets of frequent word forms, called markers, are made, and their frequency counts in blocks of 50successive sentences are calculated. The frequency counts of the markers show significant excess variability (overdispersion) withrespect to a text homogeneity model usually assumed in linguistics. For chosen markers, different kinds of hierarchical binomiallogistic regression models with the author\u27s identifier, the block length and the frequency counts of the remaining markers as explanatory variables are fitted to the block data in order to explain the observed overdispersion of the markers chosen.Straipsnio tikslas – įvertinti tekstų statistinį nehomogeniškumą pagal funkcinių žodžių ir kitų lingvistinių elementų vartoseną. Atliktas empirinis tyrimas remiasi mokykloms rekomenduojamų suskaitmenintų grožinės literatūros kūrinių biblioteka http://ebiblioteka.mkp.emokykla.lt. Apskaičiuojami sudarytų dažnų žodžių formų ar kitų kalbinių struktūrų rinkinių, juos vadinsime žymekliais, dažnumai tekstų blokuose, jungiančiuose 50 iš eilės einančių sakinių. Pastebėta, kad žymeklių dažnumai blokuose turi ženklią perteklinę sklaidą, palyginti su lingvistikoje įprastu homogeniškumo modeliu. Pasirinktoms žymeklių grupėms parinkti kelių tipų hierarchiniai binominės logistinės regresijos modeliai, naudojantys autoriaus identifikatorių, bloko ilgį ir likusių žymeklių dažnius blokuose kaip aiškinančiuosius kintamuosius, leido paaiškinti didelę dalį pasirinktųjų žymeklių perteklinės sklaidos
Social avoidance and altered stress axis in a mouse model of anxious depression
No full textPrevalence of stress-related disorders, such as depression, is raising in modern societies. Indeed, current neurobiological research aims to elucidate the link between deregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis among vulnerable individuals and the onset of depressive symptoms, such as social withdrawal. Herein, we seek to determine the role of LPA1 receptor in social behaviour and the performance of maLPA1-null mice, a model of anxious depression, in the dexamethasone (DEX) suppression test. For that purpose, we used the three-chamber test for social preference. Also, we administered vehicle or DEX 0.1mg/kg to wild-type (WT) mice and maLPA1-null mice, analysed corticosterone (CORT) response by ELISA method and determine glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression and serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) in the hippocampus by Western-Blot analysis. We found that maLPA1-null mice lack preference for the social chamber as compared to WT animals. Additionally, mice lacking the LPA1 receptor did not suppress CORT after DEX treatment and increased significantly hippocampal SGK1 expression despite unaltered GR protein levels. These results provide further insight on the role of LPA1 receptors in depressive-like behavior and the pathological intracellular signals involved in stress regulation.Andalusian Regional Ministries of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment (SEJ1863 to CP and CTS-643 to GE-T) and of Health (Nicolas Monardes Programme to GE-T). Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2013-44901-P to LJS and CP; and co-financed with Funds of the European Commission “FEDER” PSI2017-83408-P to CP). Author AN-Q and RDM-F hold Grants of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU 16/05308; FPU14/01610, respectively). Author FJG-S held a Grant of the First Research and Transfer Plan of the University of Malaga. University of Malaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech, and I Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia of the University of Malaga
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