Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution of hand and foot force to take-off velocity for the kick-start in competitive swimming

ABSTRACT This study examines the hand and foot reaction force recorded independently while performing the kick-start technique. Eleven male competitive swimmers performed three trials for the kick-start with maximum effort. Three force platforms (main block, backplate and handgrip) were used to measure reaction forces during starting motion. Force impulses from the hands, front foot and rearfoot were calculated via time integration. During the kick-start, the vertical impulse from the front foot was significantly higher than that from the rearfoot and the horizontal impulse from the rearfoot was significantly higher than that from the front foot. The force impulse from the front foot was dominant for generating vertical take-off velocity and the force impulse from the rearfoot was dominant for horizontal take-off velocity. The kick-start’s shorter block time in comparison to prior measurements of the grab start was explained by the development of horizontal reaction force from the hands and the rearfoot at the beginning of the starting motion.
Stability of Cognitive Outcome From 2 to 5 Years of Age in Very Low Birth Weight Children

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the stability of cognitive outcomes of premature, very low birth weight (VLBW; ≤1500 g) children. METHODS: A regional cohort of 120 VLBW children born between 2001 and 2004 was followed up by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition, at 2 years of corrected age and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Revised at the age of 5 years. The Mental Development Index (MDI) and the full-scale IQ (FSIQ) were measured, respectively. A total of 168 randomly selected healthy term control children born in the same hospital were assessed for MDI and FSIQ. RESULTS: In the VLBW group, mean ± SD MDI was 101.2 ± 16.3 (range: 50–128), mean FSIQ was 99.3 ± 17.7 (range: 39–132), and the correlation between MDI and FSIQ was 0.563 (P < .0001). In the term group, mean MDI was 109.8 ± 11.7 (range: 54–128), mean FSIQ was 111.7 ± 14.5 (range: 73–150), and the correlation between MDI and FSIQ was 0.400 (P < .0001). Overall, 83% of those VLBW children who had significant delay (–2 SD or less) according to MDI had it also in FSIQ. Similarly, 87% of those children who were in the average range in MDI were within the average range in FSIQ as well. CONCLUSIONS: Good stability of cognitive development over time was found in VLBW children and in term children between the ages of 2 and 5 years. This conclusion stresses the value and clinical significance of early assessment at 2 years of corrected age. However, we also emphasize the importance of a long-term follow-up covering a detailed neuropsychological profile of these at-risk children.
Interpretations of Utility and Their Implications for the Valuation of Health

The term utility can be interpreted in terms of the hedonic experience of an outcome (experienced utility) or in terms of the preference or desire for that outcome (decision utility). It is this second interpretation that lies at the heart of the methods that economists have developed to value non-market goods, such as health. In this article, we argue that decision utility is unlikely to generate meaningful data on the utility associated with different experiences, and instead economists should look towards developing measures that focus more directly on experienced utility.
Characteristics of intestinal metaplasia in the gastric cardia

OBJECTIVE:Intestinal metaplasia of the gastroesophageal junction is frequently grouped together with Barrett's esophagus. The area of the gastroesophageal junction is comprised of the distal esophagus and the gastric cardia. The aim of the present study was to assess whether intestinal metaplasia in the distal esophagus and gastric cardia represent two different entities with a different set of risk factors.METHODS:Patients presenting for elective upper endoscopy were enrolled into a prospective study. The presence of gastritis and intestinal metaplasia was evaluated in gastric biopsies taken from the antrum, corpus, and cardia. Barrett's esophagus was defined by the presence of any length of columnar mucosa above the gastroesophageal junction.RESULTS:Of 302 patients, 50 patients had intestinal metaplasia of the gastric cardia, 73 Barrett's esophagus, and 116 erosive esophagitis. Men were more prone than women to develop Barrett's esophagus or erosive esophagitis. Both conditions were also more common among whites than nonwhites. Smoking was particularly common among patients with Barrett's esophagus. Patients with cardiac intestinal metaplasia did not share these demographic characteristics. The prevalence of daily reflux symptoms, erosive esophagitis, and Barrett's esophagus was similar among patients both with and without cardiac intestinal metaplasia. However, atrophy and intestinal metaplasia of the gastric antrum and corpus were found more frequently among patients with than without cardiac intestinal metaplasia.CONCLUSIONS:Intestinal metaplasia of the gastric cardia is different from Barrett's esophagus. Although cardiac intestinal metaplasia is closely associated with signs of gastritis in other parts of the stomach, gastroesophageal reflux disease does not seem to be a risk factor. A diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus should not be made based on the presence of intestinal metaplasia within the cardiac portion of the gastroesophageal junction.
repDNA: a Python package to generate various modes of feature vectors for DNA sequences by incorporating user-defined physicochemical properties and sequence-order effects

UNLABELLED In order to develop powerful computational predictors for identifying the biological features or attributes of DNAs, one of the most challenging problems is to find a suitable approach to effectively represent the DNA sequences. To facilitate the studies of DNAs and nucleotides, we developed a Python package called representations of DNAs (repDNA) for generating the widely used features reflecting the physicochemical properties and sequence-order effects of DNAs and nucleotides. There are three feature groups composed of 15 features. The first group calculates three nucleic acid composition features describing the local sequence information by means of kmers; the second group calculates six autocorrelation features describing the level of correlation between two oligonucleotides along a DNA sequence in terms of their specific physicochemical properties; the third group calculates six pseudo nucleotide composition features, which can be used to represent a DNA sequence with a discrete model or vector yet still keep considerable sequence-order information via the physicochemical properties of its constituent oligonucleotides. In addition, these features can be easily calculated based on both the built-in and user-defined properties via using repDNA. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The repDNA Python package is freely accessible to the public at http://bioinformatics.hitsz. edu.cn/repDNA/. CONTACT bliu@insun.hit. edu.cn or kcchou@gordonlifescience.org SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Taboo evolutionary programming: a new method of global optimization

We introduce taboo evolutionary programming, a very efficient global optimization method which combines features of single-point mutation evolutionary programming (SPMEP) and taboo search. As demonstrated by solving 18 benchmark problems, the algorithm is not trapped in local minima and quickly approaches the global minimum. The results are superior to those from SPMEP, fast evolutionary programming and generalized evolutionary programming. The method is easily applicable to real-world problems, and the central idea may be introduced into other algorithms.
Probabilistic Recovery Guarantees for Sparsely Corrupted Signals

We consider the recovery of sparse signals subject to sparse interference, as introduced by Studer , IEEE T-IT, 2012. We present novel probabilistic recovery guarantees for this framework, covering varying degrees of knowledge of the signal and interference support, which are relevant for a large number of practical applications. Our results assume that the sparsifying dictionaries are characterized by coherence parameters and we require randomness only in the signal and/or interference. The obtained recovery guarantees show that one can recover sparsely corrupted signals with overwhelming probability, even if the sparsity of both the signal and interference scale (near) linearly with the number of measurements.
Interdecadal Changes in the Leading Ocean Forcing of Sahelian Rainfall Interannual Variability: Atmospheric Dynamics and Role of Multidecadal SST Background

The atmospheric response to global sea surface temperatures is the leading cause of rainfall variability in the West African Sahel. On interannual periodicities, El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the Atlantic equatorial mode, and Mediterranean warm/cold events primarily drive variations of summer rainfall over the Sahel. Nevertheless, the rainfall response to these modes of interannual SST variability has been suggested to be unstable throughout the observational record. This study explores changes in the leading patterns of covariability between Sahel rainfall and SSTs, analyzing the dynamical mechanisms at work to explain the nonstationary relationship between anomalies in these two fields. A new network of rain gauge stations across West Africa is used for the first time to investigate these instabilities during the period 1921–2010. A hypothesis is raised that the underlying SST background seems to favor some interannual teleconnections and inhibit others in terms of the cross-equatorial SST gradients and associated impacts on the location of the intertropical convergence zone. Results of this study are relevant for improving the seasonal predictability of summer rainfall in the Sahel.
Muscle synergies in neuroscience and robotics: from input-space to task-space perspectives

In this paper we review the works related to muscle synergies that have been carried-out in neuroscience and control engineering. In particular, we refer to the hypothesis that the central nervous system (CNS) generates desired muscle contractions by combining a small number of predefined modules, called muscle synergies. We provide an overview of the methods that have been employed to test the validity of this scheme, and we show how the concept of muscle synergy has been generalized for the control of artificial agents. The comparison between these two lines of research, in particular their different goals and approaches, is instrumental to explain the computational implications of the hypothesized modular organization. Moreover, it clarifies the importance of assessing the functional role of muscle synergies: although these basic modules are defined at the level of muscle activations (input-space), they should result in the effective accomplishment of the desired task. This requirement is not always explicitly considered in experimental neuroscience, as muscle synergies are often estimated solely by analyzing recorded muscle activities. We suggest that synergy extraction methods should explicitly take into account task execution variables, thus moving from a perspective purely based on input-space to one grounded on task-space as well.
Influence of different sowing dates on plant growth and yield of hybrid sweet corns

A field experiment was conducted at Tansa Farm, ASPEE Agricultural Research and Development Foundation, Maharashtra during Rabi season of 2015-16 and 2016-17 to study the effects of different sowing time on different sweet corn varieties. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with twelve treatment combinations having four sowing dates viz., 15 th December, 30 th December, 15 th January, 30 th January and three hybrid sweet corn varieties viz., Hibrix 39, Madhu 5 and Sugar 75. The seed was sown at 30cm x 15cm distance having net plot size 6.6 m x 4.5 m with three replications. Observations on plant height, cob length, cob weight, number of seeds/cob, test weight of 1000 grains and grain yield were recorded and data were statistically analysed using appropriate method. All quantity traits were promising when the sowing was carried out on 15 th December. Further delay of the sowing had negative effects on the performance of sweet corn varieties. Hybrid sweet corn var. Sugar 75 proved to be which recorded higher grain yield of 2616 kg ha -1 in pooled study when sowing was done on 15th December, over remaining two varieties viz., Hibrix 39 and Madhu 5.
Late Triassic (Early Carnian-Norian) Palynology of the Sentralbanken High, Norwegian Barents Sea

abstract Four stratigraphic cores (7533/2-U-1, 2-U-2, 3-U-7 and 7534/4-U-1) drilled in the Sentralbanken High provide important reference sections for the Upper Triassic succession in the northern Barents Sea. The cores span the De Geerdalen, Flatsalen and Svenskøya formations (Kapp Toscana Group), which are equivalent to the Snadd to middle Fruholmen formations of the southern Barents Sea. Only cursory palynological study of the cores has been conducted previously, and no published palynofacies data is available. We present a detailed palynostratigraphy from the cores, and describe six informal palynological assemblages. Comparison with independently dated sections from elsewhere in the region enables a revised age interpretation of early Carnian to Norian for the cored interval, thereby improving correlation between Sentralbanken, Svalbard and the southern Barents Sea. A dominance of amorphous organic matter (AOM) and marine palynomorphs indicates a distal suboxic-anoxic marine depositional environment for the lower De Geerdalen Formation, with an abrupt change to a nearshore marine environment above an erosion surface in core 7534/4-U-1. Palynofacies from the remainder of the formation are characterised by a dominance of phytoclasts and are interpreted as indicative of a delta front to coastal plain environment. The reappearance of AOM, microforaminiferal test linings and marine microphytoplankton in the Flatsalen Formation in cores 7533/2-U-1 and 2-U-2 reflects a regional transgression of early Norian age. Reworked palynomorphs, shale rip-up clasts and a transition to phytoclast-dominated palynofacies above an erosion surface at the base of the overlying Svenskøya Formation is consistent with a disconformity, which was previously identified as a possible sequence boundary on the neighbouring island of Hopen.
The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults

A growing number of empirical studies have revealed that diaphragmatic breathing may trigger body relaxation responses and benefit both physical and mental health. However, the specific benefits of diaphragmatic breathing on mental health remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of diaphragmatic breathing on cognition, affect, and cortisol responses to stress. Forty participants were randomly assigned to either a breathing intervention group (BIG) or a control group (CG). The BIG received intensive training for 20 sessions, implemented over 8 weeks, employing a real-time feedback device, and an average respiratory rate of 4 breaths/min, while the CG did not receive this treatment. All participants completed pre- and post-tests of sustained attention and affect. Additionally, pre-test and post-test salivary cortisol concentrations were determined in both groups. The findings suggested that the BIG showed a significant decrease in negative affect after intervention, compared to baseline. In the diaphragmatic breathing condition, there was a significant interaction effect of group by time on sustained attention, whereby the BIG showed significantly increased sustained attention after training, compared to baseline. There was a significant interaction effect of group and time in the diaphragmatic breathing condition on cortisol levels, whereby the BIG had a significantly lower cortisol level after training, while the CG showed no significant change in cortisol levels. In conclusion, diaphragmatic breathing could improve sustained attention, affect, and cortisol levels. This study provided evidence demonstrating the effect of diaphragmatic breathing, a mind-body practice, on mental function, from a health psychology approach, which has important implications for health promotion in healthy individuals.
Cheating by Exploitation of Developmental Prestalk Patterning in Dictyostelium discoideum

The cooperative developmental system of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is susceptible to exploitation by cheaters—strains that make more than their fair share of spores in chimerae. Laboratory screens in Dictyostelium have shown that the genetic potential for facultative cheating is high, and field surveys have shown that cheaters are abundant in nature, but the cheating mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we describe cheater C (chtC), a strong facultative cheater mutant that cheats by affecting prestalk differentiation. The chtC gene is developmentally regulated and its mRNA becomes stalk-enriched at the end of development. chtC mutants are defective in maintaining the prestalk cell fate as some of their prestalk cells transdifferentiate into prespore cells, but that defect does not affect gross developmental morphology or sporulation efficiency. In chimerae between wild-type and chtC mutant cells, the wild-type cells preferentially give rise to prestalk cells, and the chtC mutants increase their representation in the spore mass. Mixing chtC mutants with other cell-type proportioning mutants revealed that the cheating is directly related to the prestalk-differentiation propensity of the victim. These findings illustrate that a cheater can victimize cooperative strains by exploiting an established developmental pathway.
Jupiter's tropospheric composition and cloud structure from 5-μm spectroscopy

This thesis uses infrared observations from spacecraft and ground-based telescopes to investigate the composition and cloud structure of the jovian atmosphere. It focuses on a single spectral region, known as the 5-μm window, where Jupiter's upper atmosphere becomes optically thin. This allows us to probe down beneath the planet's thick cloud decks to the 4{8 bar region in the middle troposphere. Two different data sources are combined to build up a three-dimensional picture of Jupiter's troposphere. The first dataset is from the Cassini VIMS instrument, and was taken during the 2000-2001 Jupiter yby. These observations cover a wide spectral range, provide global coverage and include both the nightside and the dayside of the planet, making them well suited to studying clouds. The VIMS spectra can be modelled using a single tropospheric cloud deck, subject to the following constraints: (i) the cloud base is located at pressures of 1.2 bar or lower; (ii) the cloud particles are highly scattering; and (iii) the cloud is sufficiently spectrally at. The second dataset is from the CRIRES instrument at the Very Large Telescope in Chile. These observations have a very high spectral resolution, allowing the absorption lines of individual molecular species to be resolved. The CH3D line shape varies between belts and zones, which can be interpreted as variations in the opacity of a deep cloud, located at around 5 bar. There is also evidence for spatial variability in two disequilibrium species, AsH3 and PH3, both of which show an enhancement at high latitudes. This is in contrast to a third disequilibrium species, GeH4, which shows no evidence for spatial variability. The CRIRES dataset also includes several strong emission lines, which are identified as H3+, an auroral species in Jupiter's ionosphere. The strengths of these lines were measured in order to determine the ionospheric temperatures. The work in this thesis contributes to our understanding of the dynamical, chemical and cloud-forming processes shaping Jupiter's troposphere and provides a reference point for future work, including observations made by NASA's Juno mission.
Bayesian inference for multidimensional NMR image reconstruction

Reconstruction of an image from a set of projections has been adapted to generate multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, which have discrete features that are relatively sparsely distributed in space. For this reason, a reliable reconstruction can be made from a small number of projections. This new concept is called Projection Reconstruction NMR (PR-NMR). In this paper, multidimensional NMR spectra are reconstructed by Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC). This statistical method generates samples under the assumption that each peak consists of a small number of parameters: position of peak centres, peak amplitude, and peak width. In order to find the number of peaks and shape, RJMCMC has several moves: birth, death, merge, split, and invariant updating. The reconstruction schemes are tested on a set of six projections derived from the three-dimensional 700 MHz HNCO spectrum of a protein HasA.
Using Video Analysis and Machine Learning for Predicting Shot Success in Table Tennis

Coaching professional ball players has become more and more diﬃcult and requires among other abilities also good tactical knowledge. This paper describes a program that can assist in tactical coaching for table tennis by extracting and analyzing video data of a table tennis game. The here described application automatically extracts essential information from a table tennis match, such as speed, length, height and others, by analyzing a video of that game. It then uses the well known machine learning library “Weka” to learn about the success of a shot. Generalization is tested by using a training and a test set. The program then is able to predict the outcome of shots with high accuracy. This makes it possible to develop and verify tactical suggestions for players as part of an automatic analyzing and coaching tool, completely independent of human interaction.
Introduction to Dynamic Financial Analysis

In the last few years we have witnessed growing interest in Dynamic Financial Analysis (DFA) in the nonlife insurance industry. DFA combines many economic and mathematical concepts and methods. It is almost impossible to identify and describe a unique DFA methodology. There are some DFA software products for nonlife companies available in the market, each of them relying on its own approach to DFA. Our goal is to give an introduction into this field by presenting a model framework comprising those components many DFA models have in common. By explicit reference to mathematical language we introduce an up-and-running model that can easily be implemented and adjusted to individual needs. An application of this model is presented as well.