Credibility Judgment Predictors for Child Sexual Abuse Reports in Forensic Psychiatric Evaluations

OBJECTIVE@#We intended to analyze the credibility judgment in written forensic psychiatric reports of child sexual abuse registered in Southern Taiwan.@*METHODS@#Ninety-six cases of child sexual abuse between August 2010 and October 2017 encountered in two hospitals were analyzed. The results in these reports were categorized into credible and non-credible. We identified the factors that distinguished between the two groups in bivariate analyses using chi-square test. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether the factors that significantly correlated in the bivariate analyses were independent predictors of credible judgments.@*RESULTS@#Among 96 cases, 70 (73%) were judged as credible. Consistent testimonies of children (odds ratio=40.82) and multiple abuse events (odds ratio=6.05) were positive variables independently related to the sexual abuse allegations judged as credible.@*CONCLUSION@#The number of allegations judged as credible in this study was slightly higher than that reported in other studies. Our findings about predictors for credible cases are not in line with those reported previously. Due to the differences in resources of the cases and backgrounds of the evaluators among multiple studies, direct comparisons with previous studies must be treated with caution.

Model of Mobile Manipulator Performance Measurement using SysML.

Test methods for measuring safety and performance of mobile manipulators have yet to be developed. Therefore, potential mobile manipulator users cannot compare one system to another. Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is a general-purpose modeling language for systems engineering applications that supports the specification, analysis, design, verification, and validation of simple through complex systems, such as mobile manipulators. As test methods are developed to allow performance comparison of the varied mobile manipulators, so to should be the case of allowing comparison of most any mobile manipulator configuration and control strategy during performance measurements. Additionally, mobile manipulator manufacturers and users can then compare these systems to tasks using various methods. This paper uses SysML to describe two measurement methods (optical tracking and artifacts) and the performance measurement of mobile manipulators performing assembly tasks. The SysML models are verified through systems review, referenced experimentation and summarize with uncertainty propagation models of the mobile manipulator.

Calibration of mobile manipulators using 2D positional features.

Robotic manipulators are increasingly being attached to Automatic Ground Vehicles (AGVs) to aid in the efficiency of assembly for manufacturing systems. However, calibrating these mobile manipulators is difficult as the offset between the robotic manipulator and the AGV is often unknown. This paper provides a novel, simple, and low-cost method for calibrating and measuring the performance of mobile manipulators by using data collected from a laser retroreflector that digitally detects the horizontal two-dimensional (2D) position of reflectors on an artifact as well as a navigation system that provides the heading angle and 2D position of the AGV. The method is mathematically presented by providing a closed form solution to the positional component of the 2D robotworld/hand-eye calibration problem AX Y= B. The method is then applied to simulated data as well as data collected in a laboratory setting and compared to other methods.

Dynamic Metrology and ASTM E57.02 Dynamic Measurement Standard.

Optical tracking systems are used in a wide range of fields, and their market has dramatically increased over the past several years, reaching $1.2 billion in sales revenue in 2014. This article describes the new ASTM E3064 standard test method procedures for optical tracking systems and will outline the theoretical basis for the analysis of the data from these systems. By way of an example, we will also verify the performance of a 12-camera optical tracking system using these standard procedures and related analysis. An artifact, developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), was verified by a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and then used in two experiments to verify the test method. This and other in-depth articles are intended to be base references for ASTM E3064.

Mobile Robot and Mobile Manipulator Research Towards ASTM Standards Development.

Performance standards for industrial mobile robots and mobile manipulators (robot arms onboard mobile robots) have only recently begun development. Low cost and standardized measurement techniques are needed to characterize system performance, compare different systems, and to determine if recalibration is required. This paper discusses work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and within the ASTM Committee F45 on Driverless Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles. This includes standards for both terminology, F45.91, and for navigation performance test methods, F45.02. The paper defines terms that are being considered. Additionally, the paper describes navigation test methods that are near ballot and docking test methods being designed for consideration within F45.02. This includes the use of low cost artifacts that can provide alternatives to using relatively expensive measurement systems.

Survey of Research for Performance Measurement of Mobile Manipulators.

This survey provides the basis for developing research in the area of mobile manipulator performance measurement, an area that has relatively few research articles when compared to other mobile manipulator research areas. The survey provides a literature review of mobile manipulator research with examples of experimental applications. The survey also provides an extensive list of planning and control references as this has been the major research focus for mobile manipulators which factors into performance measurement of the system. The survey then reviews performance metrics considered for mobile robots, robot arms, and mobile manipulators and the systems that measure their performance, including machine tool measurement systems through dynamic motion tracking systems. Lastly, the survey includes a section on research that has occurred for performance measurement of robots, mobile robots, and mobile manipulators beginning with calibration, standards, and mobile manipulator artifacts that are being considered for evaluation of mobile manipulator performance.

Opposite Effects of M1 and M2 Macrophage Subtypes on Lung Cancer Progression.

Macrophages in a tumor microenvironment have been characterized as M1- and M2-polarized subtypes. Here, we discovered the different macrophages' impacts on lung cancer cell A549. The M2a/M2c subtypes promoted A549 invasion and xenograft tumor growth. The M1 subtype suppressed angiogenesis. M1 enhanced the sensitivity of A549 to cisplatin and decreased the tube formation activity and cell viability of A549 cells by inducing apoptosis and senescence. Different macrophage subtypes regulated genes involved in the immune response, cytoskeletal remodeling, coagulation, cell adhesion, and apoptosis pathways in A549 cells, which was a pattern that correlated with the altered behaviors of the A549 cells. Furthermore, we found that the identified M1/M2 gene signatures were significantly correlated with the extended overall survival of lung cancer patients. These results suggest that M1/M2 gene expression signature may be used as a prognostic indicator for lung cancer patients, and M1/M2 polarization may be a target of investigation of immune-modulating therapies for lung cancer in the future.

Intelligence Level Performance Standards Research for Autonomous Vehicles.

United States and European safety standards have evolved to protect workers near Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's). However, performance standards for AGV's and mobile robots have only recently begun development. Lessons can be learned from research and standards efforts for mobile robots applied to emergency response and military applications. Research challenges, tests and evaluations, and programs to develop higher intelligence levels for vehicles can also used to guide industrial AGV developments towards more adaptable and intelligent systems. These other efforts also provide useful standards development criteria for AGV performance test methods. Current standards areas being considered for AGVs are for docking, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and the ground truth systems that measure performance. This paper provides a look to the future with standards developments in both the performance of vehicles and the dynamic perception systems that measure intelligent vehicle performance.

Biomarkers of early sepsis may be correlated with outcome.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis causes high mortality, and the mortality due to secondary infections is even higher. No studies to date have investigated the time from the primary infection to death due to a secondary infection; similarly, the factors that are significantly different in sepsis survivors relative to non-survivors or in severe sepsis patients who suffered a late death relative to those who recover have not been explored. We hypothesized that patients who survive sepsis have a weaker pro-inflammatory response than those who do not and that the mid-term survivors (which acquire secondary infections) would have a pronounced anti-inflammatory response (making them susceptible to infection); this hypothesis was verified in this study. METHODS: We examined 24 patients with severe sepsis; the patients were subdivided by outcome into early death (n=5), mid-term survival (survival through severe sepsis but death within six months or continued hospitalization for six months, n=6), and long-term survival (recovery and survival for more than six months, n=13) groups. The levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry, and the plasma levels of carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX), MCP-1, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, and IL-10 were measured by ELISA on days 0, 1, 2, and 3. A statistical comparison of the variables in the groups was conducted using a mixed model. RESULTS: The plasma levels of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 in early death and survivors were significantly different, and all had p values<0.01. The plasma levels of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 were also significantly different in mid-term survivors and long-term survivors, with p values of <0.01, 0.04, and <0.01, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the hypothesis that survivors have a weaker pro-inflammatory response than non-survivors, but the mid-term survivors did not have a more pronounced anti-inflammatory response. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the mid-term and long-term survivors were significantly different.

Do interleukin-10 and superoxide ions predict outcomes of cardiac extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients?

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used for cardiogenic shock rescue. It is hard to predict the outcome from this treatment by clinical observation in days soon after installation. We analyzed the plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, reactive oxygen species, and 8-OHdG, and the glutathione peroxidase activities from 23 cases at the time of ECMO installation before resuscitation. Generalized additive models (GAM) were performed to identify the death ranges of every variable, and the variables were further discretized. The impaired release of IL-10 on shock led to death. IL-10 levels at >16.58 pg/ml differentiated death from survival for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, and levels at >143.17 pg/ml did the same for dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMP) patients. The prediction power of discretized IL-10 alone was measured as area under the curve (AUC) 0.913. The generalized linear model was then performed to predict the best composition from both the original and discretized variables and resulted in AUC 0.97 for the combined discretized IL-10 and superoxide ions. Two missed myocarditis cases from IL-10 prediction were resolved by superoxide ion levels. Our observations lead to the hypothesis that a proper response to cardiogenic shock by releasing the appropriate amount of IL-10 is required for survival in the cases of AMI and DCMP. For myocarditis, proper responses in IL-10 and superoxide ions are needed.

Face recognition performance with superresolution.

With the prevalence of surveillance systems, face recognition is crucial to aiding the law enforcement community and homeland security in identifying suspects and suspicious individuals on watch lists. However, face recognition performance is severely affected by the low face resolution of individuals in typical surveillance footage, oftentimes due to the distance of individuals from the cameras as well as the small pixel count of low-cost surveillance systems. Superresolution image reconstruction has the potential to improve face recognition performance by using a sequence of low-resolution images of an individual's face in the same pose to reconstruct a more detailed high-resolution facial image. This work conducts an extensive performance evaluation of superresolution for a face recognition algorithm using a methodology and experimental setup consistent with real world settings at multiple subject-to-camera distances. Results show that superresolution image reconstruction improves face recognition performance considerably at the examined midrange and close range.

Super-resolution for flash ladar imagery.

Flash ladar systems are compact devices with high frame rates that hold promise for robotics applications, but these devices suffer from poor spatial resolution. This work develops a wavelet preprocessing stage to enhance registration of multiple frames and applies super-resolution to improve the resolution of flash ladar range imagery. The triangle orientation discrimination methodology was used for a subjective evaluation of the effectiveness of super-resolution for flash ladar. Results show statistically significant increases in the probability of target discrimination at all target ranges, as well as a reduction in subject response times for super-resolved imagery.