Standardization of apple cancellation test for neglect patients in Korea:An observational study

BACKGROUND Neglect can be divided into two types using apple cancellation test(apple test):Egocentric neglect(EN)and allocentric neglect(AN).However,in South Korea,apple test results and decision criteria are still largely dependent on tests by foreign countries.AIM To establish a new South Korea standard and improve the accuracy of neglect assessment,the apple experiment was standardized in this study.METHODS This study was conducted on 223 healthy subjects for a total of 7 mo from August 2021 to February 2022.Standardization was carried out using the original apple test developed by Bickerton in 2011.In scoring for the apple test,total omission error refers to the number of missed targets(full apple)in the entire test sheet(left,middle,and right area).The score for EN is the difference between the correct number of right area and the correct number of left area(excluding the middle area).For AN,the score is difference between the number of left opening apples and number of right opening apples(including the middle area).Linear regression analysis was used for standardization using the general characteristics of subjects and the results of the apple test.RESULTS The cut-off score,which is the standard value indicating the pathological condition by combining the results of all subjects,is as follows:Total omission error(5),error for EN(2),and error for AN(2).Also,differences in cut-off score according to age were found.CONCLUSION This study will be helpful in facilitating a more accurate differential diagnosis of neglect.

Stylistic Analyses of Ramona Series by Beverly Cleary

Beverly Cleary is one of the most popular and honored writers of contemporary children's fiction.Her Ramona series delight generations and strike root in the hearts of the people.Through stylistic analyses of the series by the depiction of Ramona's characteristics,and Cleary's special writing skills reveal the literary value of these books and Beverly's legacy for children's literature.

Casual sex and concurrent sexual partnerships among young people from an Yi community with a high prevalence of HIV in China

Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan province, China, has a high prevalence of HIV infection, which is reflective of a change in the mode of transmission from injection drug use （IDU） to heterosexual intercourse. However, few studies focus on HIV-related heterosexual risk behaviours among the majority Yi population. The objectives of this study were to explore the characteristics of an egocentric sexual network and estimate the prevalence of casual sexual behaviour. Yi villagers （n= 108）, aged 15-35 years, who reported having had sex within the previous year were interviewed as to their sexual behaviours and networks. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions provided supplementary information on sexual norms. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate unadjusted odds ratios （ORs） and 95% confidence intervals （CIs）. Most of the respondents reported having had casual sex at some time in their life, and 66.7% reported multiple sexual partnerships. Only 21.3% reported ever having used a condom. During the study year, a total of 137 partners were involved in 153 sexual partnerships. Among the reported sexual partnerships, 67.3% originated from a casual sexual relationship. For network members in components of size ≥3, 56,9% were involved in concurrent sexual partnerships. Having never been married （OR： 2.11; 95% CI： 1.03-4.33） and younger age （OR： 0.89; 95% CI： 0.83-0.95） were both associated with being in a component of size ≥3. Size （OR： 2.99; 95% Ch 1.17-7.66）, pair （OR： 0.54; 95% Ch 0.039-0.74）, the number of weak components of the egocentric sexual network （OR- 30.04; 95% Ch 6.47-139.46） and gender （OR. 0. 19; 95% Ch. 0.06-0.67） were all associated with being in concurrent sexual partnerships. HIV-related interventions for the Yi ethnic minority in Sichuan province must therefore address concurrent sexual partnerships and promote condom use.

Egocentric social network correlates of physical activity

Background:The social environment might play an important role in explaining people’s physical activity(PA)behavior.However,little is known regarding whether personal networks differ between physically active and physically inactive people.This study aimed to examine the relationship between personal network characteristics and adults’physical(in)activity.Methods:An egocentric social network study was conducted in a random sample in Switzerland(n=529,mean age of 53 years,54%females).Individual and personal network measures were compared between regular exercisers and non-exercisers.The extent of these factors’association with PA levels was also examined.Results:Non-exercisers(n=183)had 70%non-exercising individuals in their personal networks,indicating homogeneity,whereas regular exercisers(n=346)had 57%regularly exercising individuals in their networks,meaning more heterogeneous personal networks.Additionally,having more regular exercisers in personal networks was associated with higher PA levels,over and above individual factors.Respondents with an entirely active personal network reported,on average,1 day of PA more per week than respondents who had a completely inactive personal network.Other personal network characteristics,such as network size or gender composition,were not associated with PA.Conclusion:Non-exercisers seem to be clustered in inactive networks that provide fewer opportunities and resources,as well as less social support,for PA.To effectively promote PA,both individuals and personal networks need to be addressed,particularly the networks of inactive people(e.g.,by promoting group activities).

Assessment tools for differential diagnosis of neglect: Focusing on egocentric neglect and allocentric neglect

BACKGROUND There are very few studies on the differential diagnosis between egocentric neglect(EN)and allocentric neglect(AN).AIM To investigate the overall trend of the previously developed assessment tools by conducting a descriptive review of the studies on assessment tools that can perform a differential diagnosis of EN and AN.METHODS The data were collected by using databases such as Google Scholar,PubMed,and ScienceDirect.The most commonly used search terms were“neglect”,“stroke”,“egocentric neglect”,and“allocentric neglect”.RESULTS A total of seven studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected and analyzed.We were able to confirm the research process,test method,and differential diagnosis criteria of the seven presented assessment tools from four studies on paper-based tests and three studies on computerized tests.The majority of the tests were carried out via the cancellation method using stimuli such as everyday objects or numbers.EN distinguished the left from right based on the test paper,while AN distinguished the left from right based on stimuli.In order to perform differential diagnosis,the difference in the number of left and right responses or non-responses was used based on the EN and AN criteria.CONCLUSION It was confirmed that all the seven assessment tools can effectively perform differential diagnosis of EN and AN.This study may provide important data that can be used in clinical practice for differential diagnosis and future intervention planning for neglect patients.

Enhance Egocentric Grasp Recognition Based Flex Sensor Under Low Illumination

Egocentric recognition is exciting computer vision research by acquiring images and video from the first-person overview.However,an image becomes noisy and dark under low illumination conditions,making subsequent hand detection tasks difficult.Thus,image enhancement is necessary to make buried detail more visible.This article addresses the challenge of egocentric hand grasp recognition in low light conditions by utilizing the flex sensor and image enhancement algorithm based on adaptive gamma correction with weighting distribution.Initially,a flex sensor is installed to the thumb for object manipulation.The thumb placement that holds in a different position on the object of each grasp affects the voltage changing of the flex sensor circuit.The average voltages are used to configure the weighting parameter to improve images in the image enhancement stage.Moreover,the contrast and gamma function are used to adjust varies the low light condition.These grasp images are then separated to be training and testing with pretrained deep neural networks as the feature extractor in YOLOv2 detection network for the grasp recognition system.The proposed of using a flex sensor significantly improves the grasp recognition rate in low light conditions.

Encoding of local and global cues in domestic dogs’ spatial working memory

The current study investigated whether domestic dogs encode local and/or global cues in spatial working memory. Seven dogs were trained to use a source of allocentric information (local and/or global cues) to locate an attractive object they saw move and disappear behind one of the three opaque boxes arrayed in front of them. To do so, after the disappearance of the target object and out of the dogs’ knowledge, all sources of allocentric information were simultaneously shifted to a new spatial position and the dogs were forced to follow a U-shaped pathway leading to the hiding box. Out of the seven dogs that were trained in the detour problem, only three dogs learned to use the cues that were moved from trial to trial. On tests, local (boxes and experimenter) and/or global cues (walls of the room) were systematically and drastically shifted to a new position in the testing chamber. Although they easily succeeded the control trials, the three dogs failed to use a specific source of allocentric information when local and global cues were put in conflict. In discussion, we explore several hypotheses to explain why dogs have difficulties to use allocentric cues to locate a hidden object in a detour problem and why they do not differentiate the local and global cues in this particular experimental setting.

Assessment of Random Recruitment Assumption in Respondent-Driven Sampling in Egocentric Network Data

One of the key assumptions in respondent-driven sampling (RDS) analysis, called “random selection assumption,” is that respondents randomly recruit their peers from their personal networks. The objective of this study was to verify this assumption in the empirical data of egocentric networks. Methods: We conducted an egocentric network study among young drug users in China, in which RDS was used to recruit this hard-to-reach population. If the random recruitment assumption holds, the RDS-estimated population proportions should be similar to the actual population proportions. Following this logic, we first calculated the population proportions of five visible variables (gender, age, education, marital status, and drug use mode) among the total drug-use alters from which the RDS sample was drawn, and then estimated the RDS-adjusted population proportions and their 95% confidence intervals in the RDS sample. Theoretically, if the random recruitment assumption holds, the 95% confidence intervals estimated in the RDS sample should include the population proportions calculated in the total drug-use alters. Results: The evaluation of the RDS sample indicated its success in reaching the convergence of RDS compositions and including a broad cross-section of the hidden population. Findings demonstrate that the random selection assumption holds for three group traits, but not for two others. Specifically, egos randomly recruited subjects in different age groups, marital status, or drug use modes from their network alters, but not in gender and education levels. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the occurrence of non-random recruitment, indicating that the recruitment of subjects in this RDS study was not completely at random. Future studies are needed to assess the extent to which the population proportion estimates can be biased when the violation of the assumption occurs in some group traits in RDS samples.

Tenses, aspects, and categories of evidentiality and egocentricity in spoken Lhasa Tibetan

This paper mainly discusses verbal aspects and their syntactic markers in Lhasa Tibetan. Since aspects in Tibetan always share markers with other important categories called evidentiality and egocentricity, the former of which assesses the evidence of speaker's statement and the latter denotes behavioral characteristics of a speaker'sego-centricity, this paper simultaneously describes all three types: aspect, evidentiality and egocentricity. There are nine types of verb aspects in Lhasa Tibetan, namely: Prospective, Imminent, Premediated, Realis, Durative, Resultative, Merely-past, Perfect, and Contextual aspects. There are four types of evidentialities, namely, Self-knowledge, Knowing-by-sight, Knowing-by-newly-found-information and Knowing-by-inference evidentialities. Categories of egocentricity demonstrate whether an action is towards the Self or the Other, whether the speaker gains or loses, and so on. Additionally, this essay also discusses the interactive relationship between syntactical verb aspects and personal pronouns, intentionality, modality, as well as temporal-spatial cognition.

Socio-cognitive Approach to Pragmatics

Communication is not as smooth a process as current pragmatic theories depict it.In Rapaport's words "We almost always fail .Yet we almost always nearly succeed: This is the paradox of communication(Rapaport,2003:402)." This paper claims that there is a need for an approach that is able to explain this "bumpy road" by analyzing both the positive and negative features of the communicative process.The paper presents a socio-cognitive approach(SCA) to pragmatics that takes into account both the societal and individual factors including cooperation and egocentrism that,as claimed here,are not antagonistic phenomena in interaction.This approach is considered an alternative to current theories of pragmatics that do not give an adequate account of what really happens in the communicative process.They consider communication an idealistic,cooperation-based,context-dependent process in which speakers are supposed to carefully construct their utterances for the hearer taking into account all contextual factors and hearers do their best to figure out the intentions of the speakers.This approach relies mainly on the positive features of communication including cooperation,rapport and politeness while almost completely ignores the untidy,trial-and-error nature of communication and the importance of prior contexts captured in the individual use of linguistic units.The overemphasis on cooperative,societal,contextual factors has led to disregard individual factors such as egocentrism and salience that are as important contributors to the communicative process as cooperation,context and rapport.The socio-cognitive approach is presented as a theoretical framework to incorporate and reconcile two seemingly antagonistic sides of the communicative process and explain the dynamic interplay of prior and actual situational contexts.

Reconsidering sex differences during place learning in tungara frogs

In tungara frogs, female mate choice requires remembering the location and/or calls of preferred males who advertise from fixed positions within a breeding pond. A previous study found that, when solving a place discrimination task in the laboratory, female tCingara frogs were able to learn a visual cue to solve the task, whereas males were not. In that task, male performance appeared to be inhibited, in part, by their attempt to use egocentric cues. We tested whether the sex difference in place learning previously reported would generalize to other training parameters with different cues available by eliminating the potential to use egocentric cues and increasing the number of trials per day. As before, frogs were given a choice between a red or yellow door, one of which led to shelters and return to their home cage. In the current testing conditions, we detected a preference for the red door;thus, we only considered frogs rewarded to the yellow door. Training was associated with an in crease in correct choices and an in creased preference for the yellow door. However, there was no evide nee for a sex d iff ere nee in learni ng. In summary, un der the curre nt training conditions, we fou nd that the appare nt female advantage in place learning was no Ion ger evide nt. Future studies that in vestigate sex d iff ere nces in cue pref ere nee and/or ability to switch among cues will further illuminate the conditions under which sex differences in learning are manifest in tungara frogs.

Egocentric Action Anticipation Based on Unsupervised Gaze Estimation

Gaze information is important for finding region of interest(ROI)which implies where the next action will happen.Supervised gaze estimation does not work on EPIC-Kitchens for lack of ground truth.In this paper,we develop an unsupervised gaze estimation method that helps with egocentric action anticipation.We adopt gaze map as a feature representation,and input it into a multiple modality network jointly with red-green-blue(RGB),optical flow and object features.We explore the method on EGTEA dataset.The estimated gaze map is further optimized with dilation and Gaussian filter,masked onto the original RGB frame and encoded as the important gaze modality.Our results outperform the strong baseline Rolling-Unrolling LSTMs(RULSTM),with top-5 accuracy achieving 34.31%on the seen test set(S1)and 22.07%on unseen test set(S2).The accuracy is improved by 0.58%and 0.87%,respectively.