Plausible Relation Research Articles

Exploiting Spatial-Temporal Context for Interacting Hand Reconstruction on Monocular RGB Video

Reconstructing interacting hands from monocular RGB data is a challenging task, as it involves many interfering factors, e.g., self- and mutual occlusion and similar textures. Previous works only leverage information from a single RGB image without modeling their physically plausible relation, which leads to inferior reconstruction results. In this work, we are dedicated to explicitly exploiting spatial-temporal information to achieve better interacting hand reconstruction. On the one hand, we leverage temporal context to complement insufficient information provided by the single frame and design a novel temporal framework with a temporal constraint for interacting hand motion smoothness. On the other hand, we further propose an interpenetration detection module to produce kinetically plausible interacting hands without physical collisions. Extensive experiments are performed to validate the effectiveness of our proposed framework, which achieves new state-of-the-art performance on public benchmarks.

Normalization and cross-sectional validation of an extended Adverse Event Profile (E AEP) in a large cohort of patients with epilepsy

PurposeThe Liverpool Adverse Event Profile (L AEP) is commonly used in clinical practice and pharmacological trials for the monitoring of side effects of anti-seizure medication (ASM). However potentially unrelated, additional symptoms and normative data should be considered to put patients´ complaints into perspective. MethodsAn extended 32-item AEP (E AEP) was given to 537 healthy subjects and 1,605 patients with epilepsy as part of the Bonn ASM side effect registry. The tool was factor-analyzed, corrected for age, gender, and repeated application, and related to drug load and individual substances (with N> 100) on item and scale level (total E AEP and its subscales cognition, dizziness, energy, mood, bodily symptoms, aggression, and sexuality). ResultsCompared to non-normalized results, at item level, between one and two-thirds of responses suggesting impairment were found to be unlikely to be related to ASM treatment after normalization. Binary regression analyses revealed differential effects of medication choice, but also of antidepressants and neuroleptics on complaint domains. The explained variance was better for physical than psychological domains. The results reflect both known drug side effects and indications. Patients´ explicit attribution of problems to their medications barely improved the correlation of the E AEP and treatment parameters. ConclusionApplication of a norm-referenced AEP is highly recommended to avoid overestimation of treatment related problems in patients with epilepsy. It allows evaluation on item and scale level for individuals as well as groups in drug trials. Plausible relations to individual drugs and to drug load can be demonstrated. The explanatory power was better for physical than psychological domains. Drug-related complaint patterns reflect known drug side effects (e.g. perampanel and brivaracetam with aggression) as well as drug indications (e.g. lamotrigine for depression). This is likely to be particularly relevant when side effects may have affected treatment decisions. Longitudinal evaluation with repeated application of the E AEP with changes of drug treatment is in progress.

Predicting formative feedback practices: improving learning and minimising a tendency to ignore feedback

IntroductionTeacher conceptions of feedback ideally predict their feedback practices, but little robust evidence identifies which beliefs matter to practices. It is logical to presume that teacher conceptions of feedback would align with the policy framework of an educational jurisdiction. The Teacher Conceptions of Feedback (TCoF) inventory was developed in New Zealand which has a relatively low-stakes, formative policy framework.MethodsThis study surveyed 451 Swedish teachers working in Years 1-9, a policy context that prioritises teachers using multiple data sources to help students learn. The study used a translated version of the TCoF inventory, but isolated six items related to formative feedback practices from various factors.ResultsA six-factor TCoF was recovered (Praise, Improvement, Ignore, Required, PASA, and Timely), giving partial replication to the previous study. A well-fitting structural equation model showed formative practices were predicted by just two conceptions of feedback (i.e., feedback improves learning and students may ignore feedback).DiscussionThis study demonstrates that the TCoF inventory can be used to identify plausible relations from feedback beliefs to formative feedback practices.

Double jeopardy: Gendered social policy for two risky life periods in six welfare state contexts

This study adopts a cultural gendered perspective to examine policy in two financially risky periods in women's life course: when raising young children and in post-employment in old age, when income is mainly from pensions. Specifically, we look at the intersection of social policy and cultural schemas of motherhood in relation to two policy axes: family policy and old age policy. The analysis is based on a cross-national comparison of social policies in six countries with significantly different welfare state and cultural traditions: Germany, France, Israel, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Data are gleaned from document analysis of care and pension policies and the database of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The policy analysis revealed nuanced differences between countries that are captured through a typology composed of the level of generosity in family policy and the level of generosity in old age policy. The analysis addresses a research lacuna regarding the intersection between gendered cultural schemas and the generosity of socialpolicies and its plausible relation to the genderedness of old-age vulnerability.

Scaling of turbulent velocity structure functions: plausibility constraints

The $n$ th-order velocity structure function $S_n$ in homogeneous isotropic turbulence is usually represented by $S_n \sim r^{\zeta _n}$ , where the spatial separation $r$ lies within the inertial range. The first prediction for $\zeta _n$ (i.e. $\zeta _3=n/3$ ) was proposed by Kolmogorov (Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, vol. 30, 1941) using a dimensional argument. Subsequently, starting with Kolmogorov (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 13, 1962, pp. 82–85), models for the intermittency of the turbulent energy dissipation have predicted values of $\zeta _n$ that, except for $n=3$ , differ from $n/3$ . In order to assess differences between predictions of $\zeta _n$ , we use the Hölder inequality to derive exact relations, denoted plausibility constraints. We first derive the constraint $(p_3-p_1)\zeta _{2p_2} = (p_3 -p_2)\zeta _{2p_1} +(p_2-p_1)\zeta _{2p_3}$ between the exponents $\zeta _{2p}$ , where $p_1 \leq p_2 \leq p_3$ are any three positive numbers. It is further shown that this relation leads to $\zeta _{2p} = p \zeta _2$ . It is also shown that the relation $\zeta _n=n/3$ , which complies with $\zeta _{2p} = p \zeta _2$ , can be derived from constraints imposed on $\zeta _n$ using the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality, a special case of the Hölder inequality. These results show that while the intermittency of $\epsilon$ , which is not ignored in the present analysis, is not incompatible with the plausible relation $\zeta _n=n/3$ , the prediction $\zeta _n=n/3 +\alpha _n$ is not plausible, unless $\alpha _n =0$ .

The Nomic Likelihood Account of Laws

An adequate account of laws should satisfy at least five desiderata: it should provide a unified account of laws and chances, it should yield plausible relations between laws and chances, it should vindicate numerical chance assignments, it should accommodate dynamical and non-dynamical chances, and it should accommodate a plausible range of nomic possibilities. No extant account of laws satisfies these desiderata. This paper presents a non-Humean account of laws, the Nomic Likelihood Account, that does.

Interrelated Oncogenic Viruses and Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer is a multifactorial disease and recent evidence that viruses have a greater role in its aetiology and pathophysiology than previously hypothesized, has garnered a lot of attention in the past couple of years. After the role of Mouse Mammary Tumour Virus (MMTV) in the oncogenesis of breast cancer has been proved in mice, search for similar viruses found quite a plausible relation of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), and Bovine Leukaemia Virus (BLV) with breast cancer. However, despite practical efforts to provide some clarity in this issue, the evidence that viruses cause breast cancer still remains inconclusive. Therefore, this article aims to clarify some ambiguity and elucidate the correlation of breast cancer and those particular viruses which are found to bring about the development of tumorigenesis by a previous infection or by their own oncogenic ability to manipulate the molecular mechanisms and bypass the immune system of the human body. Although many studies have reported, both, the individual and co-existing presence of HPV, EBV, MMTV, and BLV in patient sample tissues, particularly in Western women, and proposed oncogenic mechanisms, majority of the collective survey of literature fails to provide a delineated and strong conclusive evidence that viruses do, in fact, cause breast cancer. Measures to prevent these viral infections may curb breast cancer cases, especially in the West. More studies are needed to provide a definite conclusion.

Physical Activity, Natural Environment, Present Moment Awareness, and Its Consideration: A Qualitative Review

Longstanding research suggests a plausible relation between physical activity, the natural environment, and overall health. However, when investigating this relationship, most studies focused on the absence of disease or frailty as health indicators. The relation between physical activity (PA), subjective well-being (SWB), natural environment, and present moment awareness (PMA) remains unexplored. The presented qualitative review offers a perspective model of the relationship between physical activity, natural environment, and awareness of the present moment that helps us explore its underlying, relating pathways. Our review concludes that present moment awareness can be worthy of attention to detect the impact of physical activity, subjective well-being and staying in a natural environment on selected samples, as well as its influence on maximizing related benefits for health and well-being. The challenge after that is to consider how to monitor the complex interactions that will occur within the multiple levels of influence. Essentially, a unified model of research and practice which incorporates physiological and psychological theories is undoubtedly needed. If that happens, we can understand the role of the diverse regulators upon behavior and proceed to convey this evidence into future health-promoting interventions.

Decision-making through Dominance Plausible Rule: New characterizations

We go deeper into the study of the Dominance Plausible Rule (DPR) model of preferences over acts due to Dubois et al. This model corresponds, in the qualitative framework, to Savage’s model. The DPR model relies on two purely ordinal primitives: (1) a preference over consequences and (2) a plausibility relation over sets of states of the world. We characterize several versions of the model defined by different classes of plausibility relations. Our representation results also show that the model has interesting rationality properties. As a consequence of our characterizations, we obtain subjective plausibility relations of several kinds.

Magnetized strange quark model with cosmological term in modified gravity of anisotropic cosmology

We study the Magnetized Strange Quark Matter (MSQM) solutions for Bianchi type-I universe in the two models of modified gravity f(R,T) in presence of variable cosmological term Λ=Λ(t). The models are characterized by the functions of the forms f(R,T)=(R+2μTandμ(R+T)) based on the plausible relations. The results indicate that, although the magnetic flux (as a byproduct of the models) does not appear, the models can exhibit de-Sitter like manifestations or situations resembling the cosmological standard model in the early or late times of the universe evolution. Some physical aspects of models are also discussed.

Pedobarography in Physiotherapy: A Narrative Review on Current Knowledge.

Pedobarography is a modern technology enabling the assessment of the locomotor system based on the plantar pressure distribution. The technic is useful in the rehabilitation of various types of dysfunction of body movement. This chapter aims to describe the application of pedobarography in clinical therapy. The qualitative analysis is based on a review of articles in English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Chinese in Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and PEDro databases. The search covered the articles on clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and reviews published over 1984-2020. The literature shows that pedobarography is a safe non-invasive method that is useful for the examination of foot biomechanics with a reference to the entire musculoskeletal system. A pedobarographic examination enables insight into a motion disorder, its plausible relation to a systemic pathology, and monitoring the course of treatment and rehabilitation.

Firm performance and diversification in the energy sector

PurposeThe study aims to fill a gap in the literature on the economic impact of industrial and international diversification on firm performance in the energy sector. Li et al. (2016) investigate firms listed in China, and this study analyzes firms listed in (Western) Europe.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 129 energy firms is extracted from Datastream and covers the period from January 2009 to December 2015. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses are used to determine a plausible relation of diversification on corporate performance. Also, the difference between renewable energy firms and conventional energy firms is explored.FindingsA univariate analysis using both return on assets andTobin's Qas a variable shows that renewable energy firms have a higher profitability than conventional energy firms. However, a multivariate analysis does not confirm this result. The authors also document a negative relation between diversification strategies and firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses main industry codes. Yet, one might make a distinction between renewable energy and conventional energy amounts with corporations. Also, the authors cover financial crisis years. Researchers might take into account more recent years.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study highlight the importance of short-term and long-term considerations for practitioners related to demand, the energy mix, oil prices and firm strategies.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the debate and the literature when identifying similarities and differences between conventional energy firms and renewable energy firms in their application of diversification strategies and their (relation to) firm performance.

Historical Trauma and American Indian/Alaska Native Youth Mental Health Development and Delinquency.

Health disparities in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth are well documented in the literature, as AI/AN youth appear to be more likely to experience trauma and engage in high-risk behavior, such as substance misuse and risky sexual behavior. These youth also appear disproportionally affected by the criminal justice system. Scholars contend that much of these disparities can be traced back to the history of colonization of Indigenous peoples and the transgenerational effects of forced suppression of cultural ideology. This paper reviews the relevant literature on AI/AN youth mental and behavioral health, and this author highlights studies which examine the plausible relation between historical trauma and contemporary AI/AN youth mental health and delinquency. This author proposes that future research should target the high number of AI/AN youths in juvenile justice settings given that these youths appear neglected in current research.

The Surgical Hazardous Attitudes Reflection Profile (SHARP) Instrument – A Prototype Study

There is growing recognition that surgeons' non-technical skills are crucial in guaranteeing optimal quality and safety of patient care. However, insight in relevant attitudes underlying these behavioral skills is lacking. Hazardous attitudes potentially cause risky behavior, which can result in medical errors and adverse events. A questionnaire offering surgeons insight in their attitudinal profile is still missing and would be instrumental in risk reduction. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a prototype of a reliable and valid instrument to measure hazardous attitudes among surgeons. To measure hazardous attitudes, a prototype of the Surgical Hazardous Attitudes Reflection Profile (SHARP) tool was designed using a mixed methods approach, consisting of (1) 2 focus group discussions, (2) a modified Delphi analysis, and (3) a survey followed by (4) statistical analysis of the psychometric properties. Statistical analysis included exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation, calculation of internal consistency reliability coefficients, and interscale correlations. Fourteen hospitals across the Netherlands were recruited to guarantee demographic variety and the inclusion of academic, tertiary, and general hospitals. Nineteen experts participated in the 2 focus groups, and 19 in the modified Delphi study. In total, 302 surgeons (54.1%) completed the SHARP. In total, 302 surgeons (54.1%) completed the SHARP. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in 6 subscales measuring attitude towards (1) authority (α = 0.78), (2) self-performance (α = 0.69), (3) performance feedback (α = 0.61), (4) own fitness to perform (α = 0.54), (5) uncertainty (α = 0.51), and (6) planned procedures (α = 0.48). This study resulted in a prototype instrument identifying 6 potential hazardous attitudes in surgeons. Attitudes towards "authority" and "self-performance" can now be validly and reliably measured. Further research is required to optimize the prototype version of the instrument and could usefully explore the plausible relations between hazardous attitudes and clinical outcomes.

Common Variants in 22 Genes Regulate Response to Metformin Intervention in Children with Obesity: A Pharmacogenetic Study of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Metformin is a first-line oral antidiabetic agent that has shown additional effects in treating obesity and metabolic syndrome. Inter-individual variability in metformin response could be partially explained by the genetic component. Here, we aimed to test whether common genetic variants can predict the response to metformin intervention in obese children. The study was a multicenter and double-blind randomized controlled trial that was stratified according to sex and pubertal status in 160 children with obesity. Children were randomly assigned to receive either metformin (1g/d) or placebo for six months after meeting the defined inclusion criteria. We conducted a post hoc genotyping study in 124 individuals (59 placebo, 65 treated) comprising finally 231 genetic variants in candidate genes. We provide evidence for 28 common variants as promising pharmacogenetics regulators of metformin response in terms of a wide range of anthropometric and biochemical outcomes, including body mass index (BMI) Z-score, and glucose, lipid, and inflammatory traits. Although no association remained statistically significant after multiple-test correction, our findings support previously reported variants in metformin transporters or targets as well as identify novel and promising loci, such as the ADYC3 and the BDNF genes, with plausible biological relation to the metformin’s action mechanism. Trial Registration: Registered on the European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT, ID: 2010-023061-21) on 14 November 2011 (URL: https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2010-023061-21/ES).

Method of constructing a semantic dictionary consisting of a perfectly stable cryptosystem of text information protection

The article describes the formal structure of semantic images thesaurus for any language in general or for any subject separately. It is shown that in many applied spheres it is advisable to assign the following hierarchy of semantic units that reflect logically completed thoughts of a certain level of abstraction, where the degree of abstraction is reduced from left to right: script/situation/phrase word. At the same time, it was noted that for the construction of any perfectly stable lexicographic crypto-semantic protection system of text information it is necessary to have formal definitions of such semantic relations between semantic units as semantic identity, semantic difference, questionable semantic identity (or plausibility), questionable semantic difference (or false similarity). Accordingly, a methodological approach is proposed to protect the meaning of text messages, which is based on the use of semantic plausibility relations. In conclusion, the formal representation of textual information semantics is presented, which allows automating the process of creating semantic dictionaries.

Scoring Alternatives for Mental Speed Tests: Measurement Issues and Validity for Working Memory Capacity and the Attentional Blink Effect.

Research suggests that the relation of mental speed with working memory capacity (WMC) depends on complexity and scoring methods of speed tasks and the type of task used to assess capacity limits in working memory. In the present study, we included conventional binding/updating measures of WMC as well as rapid serial visual presentation paradigms. The latter allowed for a computation of the attentional blink (AB) effect that was argued to measure capacity limitations at the encoding stage of working memory. Mental speed was assessed with a set of tasks and scored by diverse methods, including response time (RT) based scores, as well as ex-Gaussian and diffusion model parameterization. Relations of latent factors were investigated using structure equation modeling techniques. RT-based scores of mental speed yielded substantial correlations with WMC but only weak relations with the AB effect, while WMC and the AB magnitude were independent. The strength of the speed-WMC relation was shown to depend on task type. Additionally, the increase in predictive validity across RT quantiles changed across task types, suggesting that the worst performance rule (WPR) depends on task characteristics. In contrast to the latter, relations of speed with the AB effect did not change across RT quantiles. Relations of the model parameters were consistently found for the ex-Gaussian tau parameter and the diffusion model drift rate. However, depending on task type, other parameters showed plausible relations as well. The finding that characteristics of mental speed tasks determined the overall strength of relations with WMC, the occurrence of a WPR effect, and the specific pattern of relations of model parameters, implies that mental speed tasks are not exchangeable measurement tools. In spite of reflecting a general factor of mental speed, different speed tasks possess different requirements, supporting the notion of mental speed as a hierarchical construct.

A Technology of Aesthetic Appreciation: Tweaking the Reinforcing Potency of Synergetic Events

Despite an extensive history of serviceable analyses of behavior–environment conditions arranged by artists to elicit aesthetic experience, unforeseen transformational effects controlling aesthetic responses are often relegated to an unknowable dimension of mind or spirit. Francis Mechner demystifies aesthetic effects by describing their plausible relations to distal events in phylogeny and ontogeny in accord with principles of an experimentally derived, general process theory of behavior. In identifying a blending of temporally extended concept repertoires as the key generic component of aesthetic effects, Mechner’s approach provides a potential educational or treatment goal for individuals limited in aesthetic experience. The synergetic brews that might otherwise evoke a confluence of repertoires may not have sufficient positive reinforcing potency to ensure the requisite emission of the behaviors that produce them. Moreover, dynamically combinatorial events might even become aversive when acts are differentially punished in their presence. By creating operant chains in which the production, attendance to, or interaction with synergetic stimuli become a differential context of positive reinforcement, the frequency of occurrence of aesthetic appreciation might be multiplied.

Vitamin D, cardiovascular and bone health in postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome.

The evidence highlights the importance of improving vitamin D levels in the general population for the prevention of adverse long-term health risks, including cardiovascular events, metabolic syndrome, cancer, anxiety and depression, and overall mortality, although controversies in the research are common. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between vitamin D and vascular and bone health among postmenopausal metabolic women, controlling for traditional cardiovascular factors, and thus seeking to explore their plausible relation. The secondary aim was to look specifically for the relation between artery stiffness and bone health. This is a cross-sectional study designed to evaluate the relation between vitamin D level and vascular and bone health among women with metabolic syndrome. Two hundred and ten women visiting a cardiologist were recruited consecutively into the study. The study variables included clinical examination, laboratory findings, measurements of vascular stiffness, and bone turnover markers. We found 126 (60%) metabolic women with a vitamin D deficiency (50 nmol/L) among the study group. We discovered no statistically significant correlation between vitamin D and vascular stiffness. Vitamin D was not associated neither with femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) and T score, nor with lumbar spine BMD and T score. Nevertheless, there was an indirect weak correlation between vascular stiffness, in particular the augmentation index (AIx), and all bone health markers, including BMD and T score in both the femur head and lumbar spine. We showed a high proportion of postmenopausal metabolic women with a vitamin D deficiency, but there was no relation between vitamin D and vascular health or vitamin D and bone health. Nevertheless, the relation between vascular health and bone health exists, although the role of vitamin D in this link has not yet been established.

Truth-Tracking by Belief Revision

We study the learning power of iterated belief revision methods. Successful learning is understood as convergence to correct, i.e., true, beliefs. We focus on the issue of universality: whether or not a particular belief revision method is able to learn everything that in principle is learnable. We provide a general framework for interpreting belief revision policies as learning methods. We focus on three popular cases: conditioning, lexicographic revision, and minimal revision. Our main result is that conditioning and lexicographic revision can drive a universal learning mechanism, provided that the observations include only and all true data, and provided that a non-standard, i.e., non-well-founded prior plausibility relation is allowed. We show that a standard, i.e., well-founded belief revision setting is in general too narrow to guarantee universality of any learning method based on belief revision. We also show that minimal revision is not universal. Finally, we consider situations in which observational errors (false observations) may occur. Given a fairness condition, which says that only finitely many errors occur, and that every error is eventually corrected, we show that lexicographic revision is still universal in this setting, while the other two methods are not.