122,050 research outputs found
Designing a trial of early electrical stimulation to the stroke-affected arm: Qualitative findings on the barriers and facilitators
No full textIntroduction: This study aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators to implementing early therapeutic electrical stimulation (ES) treatment from both the patient and therapist perspectives as part of a feasibility study. Methods: Design: Interviews were conducted with patients and their carers and focus groups with the therapists post-intervention period. Setting: Interviews were in the patient’s homes and for the focus groups in a specialist stroke unit in Nottinghamshire. Subjects: Fifteen patient participants (34% of sample) were interviewed (intervention n = 9; control group n = 3; carers n = 3). Sixteen therapists (9 occupational therapists; 7 physiotherapists) took part in the three focus groups. Intervention: Participants were randomized to receive usual care or usual care and ES to wrist flexors and extensors for 30 min, twice a day, 5 days a week for 3 months. Findings: The barriers to ES treatment cited by the therapists outweighed the barriers mentioned by patients. Therapists’ barriers included lack of confidence and staff knowledge regarding ES and time pressures of delivering the ES. No patients mentioned time as a barrier and considered the treatment regime to be acceptable; however, lack of staff support was mentioned 14 times by them. Conclusion: Although initially the perceived barrier for therapists was time restrictions, after analysing the data, it appears that confidence/knowledge is the real barrier, and time is the manifestation of this underlying self-doubt. Patients were able to confidently self-manage treatment, and although efficacy was not measured, patients volunteered information regarding its perceived benefit, and no adverse effects were reported.</p
The REstart or STop Antithrombotics Randomised Trial (RESTART) after stroke due to intracerebral haemorrhage: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
No full textBackgroundFor adults surviving stroke due to spontaneous (non-traumatic) intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) who had taken an antithrombotic (i.e. anticoagulant or antiplatelet) drug for the prevention of vaso-occlusive disease before the ICH, it is unclear whether starting antiplatelet drugs results in an increase in the risk of recurrent ICH or a beneficial net reduction of all serious vascular events compared to avoiding antiplatelet drugs.Methods/designThe REstart or STop Antithrombotics Randomised Trial (RESTART) is an investigator-led, randomised, open, assessor-blind, parallel-group, randomised trial comparing starting versus avoiding antiplatelet drugs for adults surviving antithrombotic-associated ICH at 122 hospital sites in the United Kingdom. RESTART uses a central, web-based randomisation system using a minimisation algorithm, with 1:1 treatment allocation to which central research staff are masked. Central follow-up includes annual postal or telephone questionnaires to participants and their general (family) practitioners, with local provision of information about adverse events and outcome events. The primary outcome is recurrent symptomatic ICH. The secondary outcomes are: symptomatic haemorrhagic events; symptomatic vaso-occlusive events; symptomatic stroke of uncertain type; other fatal events; modified Rankin Scale score; adherence to antiplatelet drug(s). The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sub-study involves the conduct of brain MRI according to a standardised imaging protocol before randomisation to investigate heterogeneity of treatment effect according to the presence of brain microbleeds. Recruitment began on 22 May 2013. The target sample size is at least 720 participants in the main trial (at least 550 in the MRI sub-study).DiscussionFinal results of RESTART will be analysed and disseminated in 2019.Trial registrationISRCTN71907627 ( www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN71907627 ). Prospectively registered on 25 April 2013
A Multi-Language Comparison of Influences on Author Verification using Character N-Grams
No full textWe create a new multi-language corpus for author verification based on Wikipedia talkpages, and evaluate the influence that differences in topic and time have on character n-gram author profiles. Topic alignment between two texts is found to increase author verification precision, and an authors writing style is found to change over time, but not more significantly after 3 years than after 1 year.Information ArchitectureWISElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Automated characterisation of cerebral microbleeds using their size and spatial distribution on brain MRI
No full textCerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are small, hypointense hemosiderin deposits in the brain measuring 2-10 mm in diameter. As one of the important biomarkers of small vessel disease, they have been associated with various neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Hence, automated detection, and subsequent extraction of clinically useful metrics (e.g., size and spatial distribution) from CMBs are essential for investigating their clinical impact, especially in large-scale studies. While some work has been done for CMB segmentation, extraction of clinically relevant information is not yet explored. Herein, we propose the first automated method to characterise CMBs using their size and spatial distribution, i.e., CMB count in three regions (and their substructures) used in Microbleed Anatomical Rating Scale (MARS): infratentorial, deep, and lobar. Our method uses structural atlases of the brain for determining individual regions. On an intracerebral haemorrhage study dataset, we achieved a mean absolute error of 2.5 mm for size estimation and an overall accuracy > 90% for automated rating. The code and the atlas of MARS regions in Montreal Neurological Institute-MNI space are publicly available
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The vanishing author in computer-generated works: a critical analysis of recent Australian case law
No full textAbstract
The use of software is ubiquitous in the creation of many copyright works, yet the requirement in copyright law that every work have a human author who engages in independent intellectual effort means that its use may prevent copyright subsistence. Several recent Australian cases have refocused attention on authorship as an essential criterion of copyright subsistence, and these cases suggest that much computer-produced output may be authorless and thus lack copyright protection. This article, the first in a two-part series, analyses how each case deals with the question of authorship of computer-produced works and why the use of software diminishes copyright protection for a significant number of computer-generated works. The article critiques the application of conventional notions of human authorship developed in the pre-computer age to modern productions and suggests alternative approaches to authorship that satisfy both the major objectives of copyright policy and the need to adapt to the computer age. The article argues that, without a broader judicial approach to authorship of computer-generated works, Parliament must remedy the lacuna in protection for these ‘authorless’ works. Possible solutions for reform are suggested. In a forthcoming article, the author comprehensively examines those reform proposals
Diffusive author(s), cohesive author: Analysis of S/N (1994)
No full textThis study indicates the ways in which various aspects of the author(s) are brought forth in Dumb type’s performance art, the S/N production. Previous research has suggested a non-hierarchical organization of Dumb type and the absence of a “privileged author” in Dumb type’s collaborative work, S/N. However, the results that I have investigated from member’s interviews on the creative process of S/N along with my analysis of the recorded images of S/N, indicate a different aspect of the author(s). First, S/N was created through, so to speak, the collective ideas of the members of Dumb type. Further, S/N has at least nine quotations from previous performances, installations, and printed writings, besides the work-in-progress technique. Explicating one of the “author functions” as given by Michel Foucault, each text has plural subjects of the author. However, it has been revealed from members’ interviews that Teiji Furuhashi had a decision-making role in selecting the members’ ideas within the performance. Since then, S/N has had plural subjects of creation; however, Furuhashi is one of the subjects of creation along with the “privileged author.” S/N has plural authors (diffusive authors) yet at the same time, it has a “privileged author,” Teiji Furuhashi (cohesive author)
Effect of Temporary Contracts on Perceived Work Characteristics and Job Strain: A Longitudinal Study
No full textThis longitudinal study investigates differences in perceived work characteristics and job strain as a function of employment status. The study examines the effects of a change from involuntary temporary to permanent status (N = 75) compared to staying permanent (N = 257), as well as comparing temporary contract and permanent contract employees at Time 1 and a second-wave comparison that included new temporary contract employees (N = 92) and new permanent contract employees (N = 34). Results suggest that temporary employment status is associated with negative and positive consequences. On the negative side, temporary status reduced perceptions of job security and participative decision making, which had deleterious effects on job strain. On the other hand, temporary employees had fewer strain-inducing role demands (in particular, lower role overload). The net effect was that temporary employees had lower job strain, which analyses suggested was due to indirect effects of the lower role demands
Dissipative Range Scaling of Higher Order Structure Functions for Velocity and Passive Scalars
No full textDifferently to Kolmogorov's second similarity hypothesis, we find that the 2n-th order velocity and scalar structure functions scale with n-th order moment of the energy dissipation and the scalar dissipation, respectively. The origins of this scaling are analyzed by the transport equations of the fourth order velocity and scalar increment moments and by direct numerical simulations
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