This research paper looks at a selection of science-fiction films and its connection with the progression of the use of television, telephone and print media. It also analyzes statistical data obtained from a questionnaire conducted by the research group regarding the use of communication media.
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Therapy alliance has been studied largely in voluntary psychotherapy but less is known about its predictive factors for positive alliance and treatment outcome in forensic populations. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between offenders’ emotional states and therapy alliance. Moreover, we were interested in the predictive impact of emotional states early in treatment on alliance at 18 months into treatment. Self-ratings of emotional states and alliance by 103 male offenders, and therapist-ratings for therapy alliance were examined using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Participants were primarily convicted for violent of sexual offenses, and were diagnosed with antisocial, borderline or narcissistic personality disorders. Healthy emotional states were predictive of mid-treatment agreement on therapy goals and therapist ratings on tasks within the therapy. Unhealthy emotional states were predictive of patient-rated agreement on tasks. Emotional states were not predictive for the reported therapist/patient bond or global alliance ratings. This study emphasizes the importance of healthy emotional states in treatment of offenders with personality disorders.
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The sharing economy holds promise for the way we consume, work, and interact. However, consuming in the sharing economy is not without risk, as institutional trust measures (e.g. contracts, regulations, guarantees) are often absent. Trust between sellers and buyers is therefore crucial to complete transactions successfully. From a buyer ́s perspective, a seller ́s profile is an important source of information for judging trustworthiness, because it contains multiple trust cues such as a reputation score, a profile picture, and a textual self-description. The effect of a seller’s self-description on perceived trustworthiness is still poorly understood. We examine how the linguistic features of a seller’s self-description predict perceived trustworthiness. To determine the perceived trustworthiness of 259 profiles, 189 real buyers on a Dutch sharing platform rated their trustworthiness. The results show that profiles were perceived as more trustworthy if they contained more words (which could be an indicator of uncertainty reduction), more words related to cooking (indicator of expertise), and more words related to positive emotions (indicator of enthusiasm). Also, a profile’s perceived trustworthiness score correlated positively with the seller’s actual sales performance. These findings indicate that a seller’s self-description is a relevant signal to buyers, eventhough it is cheap talk (i.e. easy to produce). The results can guide sellers on how to self-present themselves on sharing platforms and inform platform owners on how to design their platform so that it enhances trust between platform users.
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Objective: This exploratory study investigated to what extent gait characteristics and clinical physical therapy assessments predict falls in chronic stroke survivors. Design: Prospective study. Subjects: Chronic fall-prone and non-fall-prone stroke survivors. Methods: Steady-state gait characteristics were collected from 40 participants while walking on a treadmill with motion capture of spatio-temporal, variability, and stability measures. An accelerometer was used to collect daily-life gait characteristics during 7 days. Six physical and psychological assessments were administered. Fall events were determined using a “fall calendar” and monthly phone calls over a 6-month period. After data reduction through principal component analysis, the predictive capacity of each method was determined by logistic regression. Results: Thirty-eight percent of the participants were classified as fallers. Laboratory-based and daily-life gait characteristics predicted falls acceptably well, with an area under the curve of, 0.73 and 0.72, respectively, while fall predictions from clinical assessments were limited (0.64). Conclusion: Independent of the type of gait assessment, qualitative gait characteristics are better fall predictors than clinical assessments. Clinicians should therefore consider gait analyses as an alternative for identifying fall-prone stroke survivors.
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This study (re)tests the relationship between planning and transfer success. Previous studies show that planning increases satisfaction, but find no or only weak relations to transfer effectiveness. 76 Dutch SME business owners, who succeeded in the transfer, were surveyed. To improve on previous studies reliable scales were constructed and results were tested for common method bias, social desirable answering and nonresponse. Multi regression analyses indicate that planning and preparation does relate to satisfaction but has no relation with performance. To predict effectiveness of SME transfers both the market and entrepreneurial abilities of the buyer seem more appealing.
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Development of novel testing strategies to detect adverse human health effects is of interest to replace in vivo-based drug and chemical safety testing. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether physiologically based kinetic (PBK) modeling-facilitated conversion of in vitro toxicity data is an adequate approach to predict in vivo cardiotoxicity in humans. To enable evaluation of predictions made, methadone was selected as the model compound, being a compound for which data on both kinetics and cardiotoxicity in humans are available. A PBK model for methadone in humans was developed and evaluated against available kinetic data presenting an adequate match. Use of the developed PBK model to convert concentration–response curves for the effect of methadone on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) in the so-called multi electrode array (MEA) assay resulted in predictions for in vivo dose–response curves for methadone-induced cardiotoxicity that matched the available in vivo data. The results also revealed differences in protein plasma binding of methadone to be a potential factor underlying variation between individuals with respect to sensitivity towards the cardiotoxic effects of methadone. The present study provides a proof-of-principle of using PBK modeling-based reverse dosimetry of in vitro data for the prediction of cardiotoxicity in humans, providing a novel testing strategy in cardiac safety studies.
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Player Modeling is a research field that studies player characteristics by analyzing in-game behavior. We aim to develop independent models, which are transferable and useful beyond a game’s context. We shall demonstrate the feasibility of this approach by applying player models to crowdsourcing to predict workers’ task completion effectiveness. Specifically, we model a user’s Need for Cognition based on in-game behavior, and based on that try to assign appropriate tasks to workers.
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This paper explores a method for deducing the affective state of runners using his/her movements. The movements are measured on the arm using a smartphone’s built-in accelerometer. Multiple features are derived from the measured data. We studied which features are most predictive for the affective state by looking at the correlations between the features and the reported affect. We found that changes in runners’ movement can be used to predict change in affective state.
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BACKGROUND: Patients who underwent surgery for aortic coarctation (COA) have an increased risk of arterial hypertension. We aimed at evaluating (1) differences between hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients and (2) the value of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to predict the development or progression of hypertension. METHODS: Between 1999 and 2010, CPET was performed in 223 COA-patients of whom 122 had resting blood pressures of <140/90 mmHg without medication, and 101 were considered hypertensive. Comparative statistics were performed. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the relation between demographic, clinical and exercise variables and the development/progression of hypertension. RESULTS: At baseline, hypertensive patients were older (p=0.007), were more often male (p=0.004) and had repair at later age (p=0.008) when compared to normotensive patients. After 3.6 ± 1.2 years, 29/120 (25%) normotensive patients developed hypertension. In normotensives, VE/VCO2-slope (p=0.0016) and peak systolic blood pressure (SBP; p=0.049) were significantly related to the development of hypertension during follow-up. Cut-off points related to higher risk for hypertension, based on best sensitivity and specificity, were defined as VE/VCO2-slope ≥ 27 and peak SBP ≥ 220 mmHg. In the hypertensive group, antihypertensive medication was started/extended in 48/101 (48%) patients. Only age was associated with the need to start/extend antihypertensive therapy in this group (p=0.042). CONCLUSIONS: Higher VE/VCO2-slope and higher peak SBP are risk factors for the development of hypertension in adults with COA. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing may guide clinical decision making regarding close blood pressure control and preventive lifestyle recommendations.
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Three empirical models were used to fit the formation of acrylamide in crisps of three different cold-sweetened potato genotypes, fried under the same experimental conditions. Statistical methods were used to compare the performance of the models, with the "Logistic-Exponential" model performing the best. The obtained model parameters for the formation of acrylamide showed improvement in precision compared to an earlier study, the precision of the parameter estimates for the degradation of acrylamide was still problematic. Nevertheless, the predictive capacity of the "Logistic-Exponential" model was tested, as this model showed a strong correlation between parameter a and the reducing sugar content of the raw potato. The predictions from this model for the formation of acrylamide in potato crisps were close to earlier reported experimental values. Therefore, the use of the "Logistic-Exponential" model as a tool to predict acrylamide in potato crisps seems promising and should be developed further.
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