Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motor learning and Parkinson disease: Refinement of movement velocity and endpoint excursion in a limits of stability balance task.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of practice on performance and retention of a balance task in persons with Parkinson disease (PD). METHODS Ten persons with PD and 10 age and gender-matched healthy control subjects were tested on an anticipatory, static base of support, limits of stability (LOS) balance task on a force plate. The motor learning paradigm utilized for all subjects included an acquisition phase and retention tests at 24 h and 1 week after acquisition. A force plate was used for testing and to collect outcome measures including movement velocity (MVL), endpoint excursion (EPE), and directional control. Data were analyzed for differences between groups and change over time. RESULTS Persons with PD demonstrated performance deficits relative to controls for MVL at all testing periods (P < 0.05), and initially for EPE (P < 0.05), but were able to maintain significant improvements through retention testing relative to baseline (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Persons with PD demonstrated unimpaired capacity for motor learning in a LOS balance task for MVL and EPE, although performance deficits remained for MVL. The results concur with previous motor learning research of upper extremity tasks by suggesting that individuals with mild to moderate PD exhibit a preserved ability to benefit from practice as a means of improving balance task performance.
Generalized approximate midconvexity

The existing various notions of generalized convexity are very useful, in particular in optimal control theory (Cannarsa and Sinestrari, 2004) and optimization (for more information and references see Rolewicz, 2005). Therefore, convenient conditions which guarantee generalized convexity are very useful. As we know from the classical theory of convex functions, midconvexity and local upper boundedness guarantee convexity. Not surprisingly, a similar type of behaviour
The psychological impact of long-term unemployment in mature-aged men : Volunteer work as a moderating variable

Previous research has recognised the negative psychological distress associated with unemployment for older workers aged over 40 years, as they are considered to be more at risk of being unemployed for a longer duration than other age groups. Several moderating variables of the negative effects of unemployment such as age, length of unemployment and leisure participation have also been identified. In examining the experiences of unemployment with an Australian matureaged group of men, this study also investigated the potential moderating effect of volunteer work participation that had been noted previously but had never been explored. One-hundred and eighteen men aged between 38 and 60 years old (M = 48.85 years) anonymously completed a booklet containing several measures of depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol consumption and abuse, and stress-related growth (ability to thrive as a result of negative life events). Compared to employed men, unemployed men were found to have significantly higher levels of depression, and thriving, but not increased anxiety, stress, or risk of alcohol abuse. Performing volunteer work was found to be related to lower levels of depression and stress in both employed and unemployed men. Results were explained in consideration of Jahoda's (1981, 1982) deprivation theory, Fryer and Payne's (1984) agency theory and Warr's (1987, 1994) vitamin model. Limitations of the study and recommendations for further research are also discussed.
Improving the Reporting of Student Satisfaction Surveys through Factor Analysis. Professional File Number 111, Winter-Spring 2009.

A prime role of institutional research is to contextualize institutional or survey data in a clear, accurate, concise, and compelling fashion. The purpose of this paper is to delineate the strategy used by a comprehensive Canadian community college to improve the analysis and reporting of student satisfaction surveys. Although data-rich with many years of student satisfaction surveys, the community college was knowledge-poor as the data were only readily available in unsummarized form. Using exploratory factor analysis, the 44 questions on the surveys were reduced to eight dimensions. The data reduction technique facilitated the testing of relationships of student satisfaction with various institutional characteristics and student characteristics. The new variables were also used to prepare a new, public institutional research report, illustrating in graphic form satisfaction findings by program, department, and the College as a whole. The outcome was the greater use of the survey results by members of the College community, as well as prospective students and external agencies.
Incidence of multiple primary cancers in a cohort of women diagnosed with breast cancer in southeast England

Among women in the Thames Cancer Registry database with a first breast cancer diagnosed between 1961–1995 observed numbers of subsequent cancers were compared with expected numbers and standardized incidence ratios were calculated. The occurrence of breast cancers subsequent to cancers at other sites was also examined. Women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50 had significantly elevated risks for 9 cancer sites namely, oesophagus, stomach, lung, bone, connective tissue, breast, corpus uteri, ovary and myeloid leukaemia compared with 2 sites (corpus uteri and myeloid leukaemia) in women diagnosed at age 50 and above. Some of these associations are consistent with the effects of known inherited cancer susceptibility genes, shared environmental factors, or therapy. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Child Welfare Workforce Turnover: Frontline Workers' Experiences with Organizational Culture and Climate, and Implications for Organizational Practice

Public child welfare agencies experience front line worker turnover rates as high as 25% a year. Worker turnover has significant financial costs to agencies, and has been linked to negative outcomes for children in care. Prior research has linked organizational factors, such as organizational climate, culture, and supervisor satisfaction, to turnover intent in child welfare populations. This research uses an empowerment framework to turn to workers directly to answer the question, “What are the organizational factors that lead frontline child welfare workers to stay or leave the agency, and what, then, are the implications for agency administrators? ” This study relies upon secondary data of a workforce study conducted by the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University‘s School of Social Work. The data was collected via a pilot internet survey of approximately 400 State-employed Oregon child welfare case workers across all geographic regions in the state, and focuses on workers who plan to leave for preventable reasons. This study explored links between organizational factors and turnover in a sample of Oregon public child welfare workers. This research finds that climate, culture, supervision, and knowledge of the job prior to hire are all significantly correlated with intent to leave. Climate is most significantly correlated to Intent to Leave, and explains 25% of the variance in intent to leave in a regression model.
Searching for Answers--Knowledge Exchange through Social Media in Organizations

Organizations need information systems that facilitate the exchange between knowledge seekers and contributors in order to manage knowledge successfully. As prior research suggests, social media platforms are a promising solution for bridging the gap between both sides in an effective manner. To enhance our understanding of the benefits of these technologies for knowledge management, we analyze the content of 15,505 enterprise microblogging messages created by 1,166 employees of an international financial institution. Specifically, we explore what kind of knowledge users seek and how knowledge is contributed from an individual perspective. Building upon social capital theory we further analyze how the strength of the relationship between seekers and contributors influences the quality of knowledge exchange. Our results provide first insights on how knowledge exchange through social media takes place in organizations. Moreover, we find empirical evidence that these technologies leverage an organization's existing knowledge, specifically through bridging of otherwise disconnected people.
Cooperating Teacher Effectiveness as Perceived by Student Teachers and Cooperating Teachers in Ohio Agricultural Education

ii Dedication . iii Acknowledgments. ivv Vita . vi List of Tables . x List of Figures . xiii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature . 12 Chapter 3: Methods . 30 Chapter 4: Findings . 42 Chapter 5: Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations . 72 References . 88 Appendix A: IRB Approval Form.96 Appendix B: Panel of Experts . 98 Appendix C: Pre-notice Postcard . 100
The Fas counterattack: Fas-mediated T cell killing by colon cancer cells expressing Fas ligand

Tumors escape immunological rejection by a diversity of mechanisms. In this report, we demonstrate that the colon cancer cell SW620 expresses functional Fas ligand (FasL), the triggering agent of Fas receptor (FasR)-mediated apoptosis within the immune system. FasL mRNA and cell surface FasL were detected in SW620 cells using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical staining, respectively. We show that SW620 kills Jurkat T cells in a Fas-mediated manner. FasR-specific antisense oligonucleotide treatment, which transiently inhibited FasR expression, completely protected Jurkat cells from killing by SW620. FasL-specific antisense oligonucleotide treatment of SW620 inhibited its Jurkat-killing activity. FasL has recently been established as a mediator of immune privilege in mouse retina and testis. Our finding that colon cancer cells express functional FasL suggests it may play an analogous role in bestowing immune privilege on human tumors. HT29 and SW620 colon cancer cells were found to express FasR mRNA and cell surface FasR using RT-PCR and immunofluorescence flow cytometry, respectively. However, neither of these cells underwent apoptosis after treatment by the anti-FasR agonistic monoclonal antibody CH11. Our results therefore suggest a Fas counterattack model for immune escape in colon cancer, whereby the cancer cells resist Fas-mediated T cell cytotoxicity but express functional FasL, an apoptotic death signal to which activated T cells are inherently sensitive.
University of Texas at Austin * * Family Structure History and Adolescent Romance

This study examined the association between family structure history and adolescent romance. Using a national sample drawn from Add Health (N 1⁄4 13,570), family structure at Wave I was associated with the likelihood that adolescents were involved in a romantic relationship at Wave II and, among those in a relationship, the number of relationships they had since Wave I. Cumulative family instability and its timing were also associated with these outcomes and largely drove the family structure effects. Gender and age interactions suggest that experiences of family instability were more consequential to the romantic lives of boys and younger teens.
DEVELOPING INNOVATION CAPABILITY IN ORGANISATIONS: A DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES APPROACH

This paper draws together knowledge from a variety of fields to propose that innovation management can be viewed as a form of organisational capability. Excellent companies invest and nurture this capability, from which they execute effective innovation processes, leading to innovations in new product, services and processes, and superior business performance results. An extensive review of the literature on innovation management, along with a case study of Cisco Systems, develops a conceptual model of the firm as an innovation engine. This new operating model sees substantial investment in innovation capability as the primary engine for wealth creation, rather than the possession of physical assets. Building on the dynamic capabilities literature, an "innovation capability" construct is proposed with seven elements. These are vision and strategy, harnessing the competence base, organisational intelligence, creativity and idea management, organisational structures and systems, culture and climate, and management of technology.
Lossy compression of images corrupted by mixed Poisson and additive Gaussian noise

Lossy compression of images corrupted by mixed Poisson and additive Gaussian noise is considered. Peculiarities of noise filtering effects observed for two approaches to image compression are studied. This is first done for specially created artificial image and, then, for two standard test images. It is shown that the standard (direct) approach to lossy compression leads to different degrees of noise suppression depending upon image mean in homogeneous regions. The use of root transformation leads to better results. Moreover, coder parameters can be adjusted to mixed noise parameters if they are known a priori. Then it becomes possible to reach optimal operation point (OOP), i.e., such compression ratio (CR) or bpp that provide maximal peak signal-to noise ratio (PSNR) or minimal MSE calculated between compressed and noise free images without having an actual noise-free image. A provided CR can be about 10⋯30 depending upon image complexity.
The Connectionist Simulation of Aphasic Naming

The simulation of language disorders using interactive activation (IA) networks and connectionist systems is discussed. An existing IA account of aphasic naming is described, in which two network parameters (decay rate and connection strength) are varied to fit the error production of an aphasic patient. Fairly similar results can be obtained through modification of additional parameters, including the so-called "shared weight increase factor" linking lexical and semantic units. This leads us to consider simulation of aphasic naming using connectionist networks which do not require explicit variation of network parameters. A modular connectionist architecture is presented, in which semantic-lexical and phonological knowledge are instantiated using self-organizing Kohonen maps, while connections between them are implemented using Hebbian networks; a linear connectionist network (Madaline) is used to simulate nonword repetition. The Hebbian connections are lesioned in order to reproduce the patient's naming errors.
Identifying monetary policy shocks via heteroskedasticity: a Bayesian approach

In this paper we contribute to the literature on the identification of macroeconomic shocks by proposing a Bayesian SVAR with timevarying volatility of innovations that depend on a hidden Markov process, referred to as an MS-SVAR. With sufficient statistical information in the data, the distinct volatility regimes of the errors allow all the structural SVAR matrices and impulse response functions to be identified without the need for conventional a priori parameter restrictions. We give mathematical identification conditions and propose a flexible Gibbs sampling approach for the posterior inference on MS-SVAR parameters. The new methodology is applied to the US, euro area and Estonian macroeconomic series, where the effects of monetary policy and other shocks are examined.
Climate Change Impact: The Experience of the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Affected by Cyclones Sidr and Aila

Bangladesh is considered one of the countries most at risk to the effects of climate change and its coastal area is most vulnerable. This study tries to explore the experiences of cyclones Sidr and Aila affected people living in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. This study was conducted in the cyclone Sidr affected Amtali Upazila of Barguna District and in the cyclone Aila affected Koyra Upazila of Khulna District. Primary data collection was done using Focus Group Interview and then a thematic analysis approach was used for analysis. Three core themes emerged from the analysis and they are, firstly, impacts of climate change on the socioeconomic condition of the people, secondly, the impact on the health status of the population, and finally the impact on vulnerable people. Findings show that the effects of climate change have serious consequences on the livelihood patterns of the affected population and on their overall health status. As a result, the unfavorable health condition of these affected people makes them more vulnerable to various emerging diseases.
Is Alpha-Synuclein Loss-of-Function a Contributor to Parkinsonian Pathology? Evidence from Non-human Primates

Accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn) in Lewy bodies and neurites of midbrain dopamine neurons is diagnostic for Parkinson's disease (PD), leading to the proposal that PD is a toxic gain-of-function synucleinopathy. Here we discuss the alternative viewpoint that α-syn displacement from synapses by misfolding and aggregation results in a toxic loss-of-function. In support of this hypothesis we provide evidence from our pilot study demonstrating that knockdown of endogenous α-syn in dopamine neurons of non-human primates reproduces the pattern of nigrostriatal degeneration characteristic of PD.
Evolutionary many-objective optimisation: many once or one many?

Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are widely established and well developed for problems with two or three objectives. However, it is known that for many-objective optimisation, where there are typically more than three objectives, the algorithms applying Pareto optimality as a ranking metric may loose their effectiveness. This paper compares three different approaches to generating Pareto surfaces on both multi and many objective problems. The first approach is using an established Pareto ranking method (NSGA II), the second combines multiple single objective optimisations in a single run (MSOPS), and the third uses multiple runs of a single objective optimiser. The results demonstrate that much can be gained by generating the entire Pareto set in a single run, when compared to repeated single objective optimisations. It is also clear that NSGA II loses its effectiveness as the problem dimensionality increases - it is more effective to use many single objective optimisations than a Pareto-ranking based optimiser on many-objective problems. Ultimately though, "many once or once many" is dependent on algorithm choice, not problem scale
Long Short-Term Memory Based Recurrent Neural Network Architectures for Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition

Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is a recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture that has been designed to address the vanishing and exploding gradient problems of conventional RNNs. Unlike feedforward neural networks, RNNs have cyclic connections making them powerful for modeling sequences. They have been successfully used for sequence labeling and sequence prediction tasks, such as handwriting recognition, language modeling, phonetic labeling of acoustic frames. However, in contrast to the deep neural networks, the use of RNNs in speech recognition has been limited to phone recognition in small scale tasks. In this paper, we present novel LSTM based RNN architectures which make more effective use of model parameters to train acoustic models for large vocabulary speech recognition. We train and compare LSTM, RNN and DNN models at various numbers of parameters and configurations. We show that LSTM models converge quickly and give state of the art speech recognition performance for relatively small sized models.
Drosophila domino Exhibits Genetic Interactions with a Wide Spectrum of Chromatin Protein-Encoding Loci

The Drosophila domino gene encodes protein of the SWI2/SNF2 family that has widespread roles in transcription, replication, recombination and DNA repair. Here, the potential relationship of Domino protein to other chromatin-associated proteins has been investigated through a genetic interaction analysis. We scored for genetic modification of a domino wing margin phenotype through coexpression of RNAi directed against a set of previously characterized and more newly characterized chromatin-encoding loci. A set of other SWI2/SNF2 loci were also assayed for interaction with domino. Our results show that the majority of tested loci exhibit synergistic enhancement or suppression of the domino wing phenotype. Therefore, depression in domino function sensitizes the wing margin to alterations in the activity of numerous chromatin components. In several cases the genetic interactions are associated with changes in the level of cell death measured across the dorsal-ventral margin of the wing imaginal disc. These results highlight the broad realms of action of many chromatin proteins and suggest significant overlap with Domino function in fundamental cell processes, including cell proliferation, cell death and cell signaling.
Farmers' willingness to pay for irrigation water: a case of tank irrigation systems in South India.

The economic value of tank irrigation water was determined through Contingency Valuation Method by analyzing farmers’ willingness to pay for irrigation water under improved water supply conditions during wet and dry seasons of paddy cultivation. Quadratic production function was also used to determine the value of irrigation water. The comparison of the economic value of water estimated using different methods strongly suggests that the present water use pattern will not lead to sustainable use of the resource in the tank command areas. Policy options for sustainable use of irrigation water and management of tanks in India were suggested.
Aphasia and the Theta System

Acknowledgments Finally I have written my thesis and finished my specialty in cognitive psychology. It has been a very hard path but I have eventually been able to reach the end. Not without help, however. Therefore, I would like to seize the opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people that have helped me. First of all I want to thank my parents, Pedro and Elena, for all their support, both psychological and financial, during these two years and a half. They have believed in me more than myself, and whenever I wanted to drop everything, they always encouraged me to go on. My family in Eindhoven have also supported me a lot, above all when I arrived to The Netherlands, offering me their house and warm. Mari Luz and Felipe, thanks a lot because without you I had never been able to get here. At the university, Harald Kunst has always helped me with all my bureaucratic problems. I am specially grateful to my supervisor Anita van Loon-Vervoorn for all that she has done for me. She offered me the chance to do an internship supervised by her at the rehabilitation center De Hoogstraat in Utrecht despite the fact that my Dutch at that moment was not good enough (and I fear it will remain so for the rest of my life) to work on my own with aphasics. She and Hannelore van der Velden have supported me very much in De Hoogstraat during the internship as well as during the process of writing this thesis. I have felt like one more working with them and with the rest of the crew of the department Logopedie in De Hoogstraat. Hence I want to give thanks to them all. I also want to thank Frank Wijnen for being my supervisor. Thanks to Sergio Baauw and Eric Reuland for their comments on the first drafts of the hypothesis I develop in this paper And last but not least, I want to give thanks to my friends in Cáceres as well as in The Netherlands, who have stimulated and supported me so much. Thanks to Karen García Garzón and Maria Barouni for all the conversations, coffees, smiles, and stories. Introduction Aphasia is an impairment that affects only the language faculty of the patient, whereas the rest of cognitive functions remain unimpaired. This has been used to study the relationship between language …