Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virtual Gait Training for Children with Cerebral Palsy using the Lokomat Gait Orthosis

The Lokomat gait orthosis was developed in the Spinal Cord Injury Center at the University Hospital Balgrist Zurich and provides automatic gait training for patients with neurological gait impairments, such as Cerebral Palsy (CP). Each patient undergoes a task-oriented Lokomat rehabilitation training program via a virtual reality setup. In four virtual scenarios, the patient is able to exercise tasks such as wading through water, playing soccer, overstepping obstacles or training in a street scenario, each task offering varying levels of difficulty. Patients provided positive feedback in reference to the utilized haptic method, specifically addressing the sufficient degree of realism. In a single case study, we verified the task difficulty.
A study on test nodes selection problem with test capacity constraint in QoE measurement network

Test nodes selection problem in QoE (Quality of Experience) measurement network is to select a few number of nodes in service network to test users’ experience information as much as possible. In this paper, test nodes selection problem with test capacity constraint is considered. To begin with, we describe it as a constrained set covering problem and develop a 0-1 integer nonlinear programming model based on a penalty factor. We propose a sub procedure to solve test capacity constraint, and propose Binary Particle Swarm Optimization-Basic Algorithm (BPSO-BA) to solve the constrained set covering problem. Simulation results show that the BPSO-BA can obtain good results with fast convergence and has almost no dependence on the initial values. However, it is sensitive to the penalty factor. Then we improve the basic algorithm for its adjustment difficulty of penalty factor. In addition, combining with 2-opt neighborhood searching algorithm, coverage rate for user nodes can be further enhanced. Finally, comparing the results of greedy heuristics, basic algorithm and improved algorithm, we find that the improved algorithm can get the highest coverage rate among the three algorithms for the same number of test nodes. Experimental results demonstrate that both the constrained set covering model and improved algorithm proposed in this paper are efficient and superior for solving test nodes selection problem with test capacity constraint in QoE measurement network
Inheritances and the Accumulation of Wealth in the Eurozone

This paper empirically compares the contribution of the two major wealth accumulation factors-earned income and inheritances-to the within country net wealth position of Eurozone households with HFCS data. Using unconditional quantile regressions, we show the varying importance of earned income and inheritances at different parts of the per country distributions and compare them to Eurozone averages. The elasticities of both wealth sources are overly non-linear and display an inverted "U" shape pattern. Around the median household, an additional percentile in the income distribution corresponds to an increase in the net wealth distribution of as much as 0.5 percentiles, while an additional percentile in the inheritance distribution yields up to 1.3 percentiles. At the bottom of the wealth distribution, households have to climb less than two percentiles in the income distribution to compensate a one percentile increase in the inheritance distribution, whereas this ratio surges to almost four percentiles at the top tail and varies distinctively between different countries. These results emphasize the relative importance of inheritances versus income from employment for private wealth creation and question common perceptions of meritocracy.
Blind Estimation of Room Acoustic Parameters Using Kernel Regression

Room acoustic parameters are key information for dereverberation or speech recognition. Usually, when one needs to assess the level of reverberation, only the reverberation time RT60 or a direct to reverberant sounds index Dτ is estimated. Yet, methods which blindly estimate the reverberation time from reverberant recorded speech do not always differentiate the RT60 from the Dτ to evaluate the level of reverberation. That is why we propose a method to jointly blindly estimate these parameters, from the signal energy decay rate distribution, by means of kernel regression. Evaluation is carried out with real and simulated room impulse responses to generate noise-free reverberant speech signals. The results show this new method outperforms baseline approaches in our evaluation.
Copolymer 1 reduces relapse rate and improves disability in relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis

we studied copolymer 1 (Copaxone) in a multicenter (11-university) phase III trial of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Two hundred fifty-one patients were randomized to receive copolymer 1 (n = 125) or placebo (n = 126) at a dosage of 20 mg by daily subcutaneous injection for 2 years. The primary end point was a difference in the MS relapse rate. The final 2-year relapse rate was 1.19 ± 0.13 for patients receiving copolymer 1 and 1.68 ± 0.13 for those receiving placebo, a 29% reduction in favor of copolymer 1 (p = 0.007) (annualized rates = 0.59 for copolymer 1 and 0.84 for placebo). Trends in the proportion of relapse-free patients and median time to first relapse favored copolymer 1. Disability was measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), using a two-neurologist (examining and treating) protocol. When the proportion of patients who improved, were unchanged, or worsened by ≥1 EDSS step from baseline to conclusion (2 years) was evaluated, significantly more patients receiving copolymer 1 were found to have improved and more receiving placebo worsened (p = 0.037). Patient withdrawals were 19 (15.2%) from the copolymer 1 group and 17 (13.5%) from the placebo group at approximately the same intervals. The treatment was well tolerated. The most common adverse experience was an injection-site reaction. Rarely, a transient self-limited systemic reaction followed the injection in 15.2% of those receiving copolymer 1 and 3.2% of those receiving placebo. This reaction was characterized by flushing or chest tightness with palpitations, anxiety, or dyspnea and commonly lasted for 30 seconds to 30 minutes. This rigorous study confirmed the findings of a previous pilot trial and demonstrated that copolymer 1 treatment can significantly and beneficially alter the course of relapsing-remitting MS in a well-tolerated fashion.
A Survey on Key Management Strategies for Different Applications of Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have proved to be useful in applications that involve monitoring of real-time data. There is a wide variety of monitoring applications that can employ Wireless Sensor Network. Characteristics of a WSN, such as topology and scale, depend upon the application, for which it is employed. Security requirements in WSN vary according to the application dependent network characteristics and the characteristics of an application itself. Key management is the most important aspect of security as some other security modules depend on it. We discuss application dependent variations in WSN, corresponding changes in the security requirements of WSN and the applicability of existing key management solutions in each scenario.
Motion tracking of fully conscious small animals in PET

Pre-clinical positron emission tomography (PET) is becoming increasingly important in understanding brain physiology using animal models. One of the major challenges at present is being able to perform brain PET studies without the use of anesthesia. In most cases where the animal is minimally restrained this will require some form of motion tracking to provide the necessary temporal pose information for compensation before or during image reconstruction (eg. [1, 2]). In previous work we have demonstrated successful tracking of continuous movement in phantom studies and an anesthetized rat study in which the animal was moved manually [2]. Here we report on our first trials tracking the head of fully conscious rats moving continuously during emission and transmission PET acquisitions performed on a microPET Focus 220 scanner (Siemens Preclinical Solutions, Knoxville, USA). The motion tracking is based on a commercial stereo-optical motion tracking device called the MicronTracker Sx60 (Claron Tech. Inc., Toronto, Canada). We have previously reported in detail on this device and its suitability for small-scale motion tracking [3]. In this paper we (i) describe the motion tracking setup and marker considerations used for conscious animal head tracking, (ii) describe our animal handling methods, (iii) present data on motion tracker performance in the conscious animal trials, (iv) present data and observations on the character of rat movements in the imaging environment, and (v) show examples of the correction that can be obtained using these data for motion compensation.
Performance Comparison of Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated Using Different Purity Semiconducting Nanotubes

In this paper, fabrication and characterization of semi conducting nanotube thin-film transistors (SN-TFTs) using 90% and 95% purity semi conducting single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are presented. The wafer scale fabrication of SN-TFTs are carried out on 2 inch Si wafers. Pre-separated semi conducting SWCNTs are deposited on amino-silane treated Si/SiO2 surface. A simple method is suggested for silanization in order to improve the carbon nanotube density more than 30 nanotubes/¹m2. SN-TFTs fabricated using both 90% and 95% enriched semi conducting SWCNTs have exhibited p-type output characteristic with excellent linear and saturation region of operation along with high on-off current ratio and steep sub threshold slope.
Isolation and serological characterization of a Plasmodium vivax recombinant antigen

A genomic library for Plasmodium vivax was constructed in lambda gt11 and immunologically screened with pooled serum samples from vivax patients. Six seroreactive clones were isolated, and one clone, denoted PV9, was studied further. This clone has an unusual base composition (65% G + C), does not share any homology with P. falciparum, and codes for an entirely new antigenic determinant. Antibodies (immunoglobulin G type) against the PV9-encoded polypeptide were produced in all vivax patients older than 15 years. This seroreactivity was lower among patients younger than 15 years (53%). The antigenic epitope(s) of the PV9-encoded polypeptide was recognized at a similar rate by serum samples from P. vivax patients who were living 350 to 973 km apart. Fifty percent of uninfected Indian adults were also seropositive, whereas all European and American (United States) sera tested were negative, suggesting that anti-PV9 antibodies persist after infection. The seroreactivity pattern of this antigen is similar to that of the immunity developed in malaria after repeated infections.
Project Title Usage of Water-Filled Trench in Improving Groundwater Quality Tag Members

1 page only) The water-filled trench method is a simple and cost effective in situ groundwater remediation technique. The water-filled trench processes avoid the risk of unassisted natural attenuation by controlling plume migration and reducing the risk of off-site liability. Simultaneously, these treatment approaches avoid the high costs and other disadvantages associated with remedial systems like pump and treat. The mechanisms of water-filled trenches in cleaning up contaminated groundwater include biological degradation, volatilization, adsorption and chemical or biological oxidation and precipitation. Water-filled trenches make use of these mechanisms to clean up contaminated groundwater, thereby reducing levels of risk to human health and the environment. In Florida, groundwater is vulnerable to different kinds of contamination, in part because of the shallow depth to groundwater in most Florida regions. Conventional methods for treating deep groundwater contamination are largely unsatisfactory because of cost and other considerations. Active methods of groundwater surface treatment are most commonly used. The active methods most frequently used are so-called pump and treat methods. Because of the high costs of active systems using pump means, interest has increased in passive systems that can treat groundwater without a need for actual removal of the water. The water-filled trench can
Adaptive Information Fusion for Human Upper Limb Movement Estimation

Accurate human movement estimation techniques are widely used in various applications, such as robotics, human-machine interaction, sports, and rehabilitation. With rapid advances in microsensors, human movement estimation using wearable micro inertial sensors has become an active research topic. The main challenges for the wearable sensor motion estimation are the inertial sensor drift problem and the linear acceleration interference problem. Because of the agility in movement, upper limb motion estimation has been regarded as the most difficult problem in human motion estimation. In this paper, we take the upper limb as our research subject and present a novel upper limb movement estimation algorithm to cope with these two challenges by adaptive fusion of sensor data and human skeleton constraint. In the sensor fusion part, a quaternion-based unscented Kalman filter is invoked to fuse the gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer measurement information. In the Kalman filter framework, an acceleration interference detection scheme is implemented based on the exponentially discounted average of the normalized innovation squared (NIS). According to the detection results, the process and measurement noise levels are scaled up or down automatically. To further compensate for the drift, we present a novel solution by modeling geometrical constraint in the elbow joint and fuse the constraint to revise the sensor fusion results and improve the estimation accuracy. The experimental results have shown that the proposed algorithm can provide accurate results in comparison to the BTS SMART-D optical motion tracker.
Optimal control parameters of controllers in automatic generation control for a two-area hydro-hydro system

In this study, three different optimization algorithms are adopted for the sake of comparison of optimal performances and obtaining the optimal values of the gain settings of the devices independently. Optimum control parameters of controller using QOTLBO, TLBO, GA algorithms are applied to the interconnected reheat thermal power system for a two-area hydro-hydro system. The impact of coordinated controllers SMES-SMES and TCPS-SMES on load frequency stabilization for such a hydro dominated system have been evaluated. A control strategy using SMES and TCPS are proposed to provide active control of system frequency. The automatic generation control (AGC) tuning is requiring to minimize the fuel cost as well as to avoid operation of generating units in undesirable changes. The proposed methodology is applied to AGC of an electric power system for real-time control of interconnected power systems. The results indicate that the controllers exhibit better performance.
Participation in Open Knowledge Communities and Job-Hopping: Evidence from Enterprise Software

Using longitudinal data of IT professionals’ activities in the SAP Community Network, and the career histories of these professionals, obtained from LinkedIn, we investigate the relationship between an individual’s participation in Internet-enabled open knowledge communities and a major event of her career development: job-hopping. We measure individual participation in open knowledge communities by two dimensions of related activities: contribution and learning. We find that while contribution to knowledge communities leads to a higher likelihood of job-hopping, greater amount of learning is associated with a higher probability of retention. We argue that the effect of contribution is attributed to job market signaling and the effect of learning is due to enhanced job performance and career advancement. We also find that the effect of learning is primarily driven by the learning of technical knowledge rather than the learning of business functional knowledge. We run a series of robustness tests to address alternative explanations and self-selection bias. Our work contributes to the existing literature on networks of practice by demonstrating that participation in these networks indeed leads to career benefits and implications. Additionally, our study takes the first step to fill the gap in the current literature on employee turnover that has so far ignored the impacts of employee participation in external knowledge communities, thus providing both theoretical and practical insights in the area of organizational research.
In vivo venous blood T1 measurement using inversion recovery true‐FISP in children and adults

A time‐efficient method is described for in vivo venous blood T1 measurement using multiphase inversion‐recovery‐prepared balanced steady‐state free precession imaging. Computer simulations and validation experiments using a flow phantom were carried out to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method for measuring blood T1 by taking advantage of the continuous inflow of fresh blood with longitudinal magnetization undisturbed by previous radiofrequency pulses. In vivo measurement of venous blood T1 in the sagittal sinus was carried out in 26 healthy children and adults aged 7–39 years. The measured venous blood T1 values decreased with age as a whole (P = 0.006) and were higher in females than males (P = 0.013), matching the expected developmental changes and gender differences in human hematocrit level. The estimated mean blood T1 values were highly correlated with normal hematocrit levels across age and gender groups (Spearman's r = 0.93, P = 0.008). The longitudinal repeatability of this technique was 4.0% as measured by the within‐subject coefficient of variation. The proposed multiphase inversion recovery‐prepared balanced steady‐state free precession imaging method is a feasible technique for fast (<1 min) and reliable in vivo venous blood T1 measurement and may serve as an index of hematocrit level in individual subjects. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal: uma ferramenta ao serviço da ciência portuguesa

A presente comunicacao visa apresentar e dar a conhecer o projecto Repositorio Cientifico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) e respectiva evolucao, desde a sua genese ate a actualidade. Comecando-se por fazer uma retrospectiva historica do movimento OA em Portugal, apresenta-se seguidamente os objectivos iniciais e a evolucao do projecto RCAAP. A descricao dos servicos disponibilizados no âmbito do RCAAP, nomeadamente o portal de pesquisa, o validador de repositorios, o Servico de Alojamento de Repositorios Institucionais, o Repositorio Comum, as integracoes com outros sistemas (DeGois e B-On), o Servico de Apoio, os servicos de divulgacao, disseminacao e formacao, quer na vertente do merchandizing tradicional, quer na vertente Web 2.0- bem como a apresentacao de varios indicadores que atestam a sua evolucao francamente expressiva, constituem a componente central deste texto. Finalmente, apresentam-se algumas perspectivas de trabalho futuro a realizar durante o ano 2010 (destacando-se o projecto-piloto de repositorio de dados cientificos, a integracao com as iniciativas de acesso livre do Brasil e o projecto europeu OpenAIRE) e conclui-se com a identificacao dos principais desafios esperados no medio/longo prazo.
Metabolism of Angiotensin II In Sodium Depletion and Hypertension in Humans

The metabolic clearance rate (MCR) and endogenous secretion rate (SR) of angiotensin II (All) have been measured after five days of sodium loading (100 mEq/day) and again after five days of dietary sodium restriction (10 mEq/day) in 12 normotensive (NT) subjects and 17 patients with essential hypertension (HT). Plasma renin activity (PRA) increased in both groups during sodium depletion, but the PRA was lower in the HT group and the response was blunted. In contrast, the plasma angiotensin II measured by radioimmunoassay was the same in the two groups in both the sodium-loaded (28.8 ±4.2 [NT] and 22.2 ± 3.4 [HT] pg/ml) and sodium-depleted (406 ± 5.5 [NT] and 36.4 ± 5.1 [HT]) states. The angiotensin secretion rates increased in both groups. The MCR was significantly higher in the HT (3.45 ±0.44 L/min) than in the NT (2.23 ±0.36 L/min). Sodium depletion was associated with an increase in the MCR in the NT to 3.19 ± 0.34 L/min, but the MCR remained unchanged in the HT. The increase in metabolic clearance rate associated with sodium depletion in normal subjects may explain the dissociation of plasma renin and plasma angiotensin in this state. MCR may be a determinant of plasma levels of angiotensin in certain circumstances.
Linkage of Dual Frequency Combs Based on All Polarization-Maintaining Femtosecond Fiber Lasers

Perfect linkage of dual frequency combs based on all polarization-maintaining femtosecond fiber lasers is demonstrated. By employing two independent tracking feedback controlling circuits, the repetition frequency (f<sub>r</sub>) and the carrier-envelope offset frequency ( f<sub>ceo</sub>) of the slave frequency comb track the master's f<sub>r</sub> and f<sub>ceo</sub>, respectively. The correlation coefficients of the dual f<sub>r</sub>'s and the dual f<sub>ceo</sub>'s are up to 0.99 and 0.98, which indicate an ideal linkage between the dual frequency combs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about linkage of dual frequency combs.
Relationship between ABO blood groups and Helicobacter. pylori infection among patients with dyspepsia

The aim of this study was detection of H. pylori infection in patients with various gastrointestinal symptoms as related t o blood groups and Rhesus factor. A total of 200 patients, 110 males a nd 90 females, whose age ranged from 18-75 years were included in this s tudy. Gastric biopsies were taken from all patients for detection of H.pylori by RUT, culture and PCR. Blood samples were tested for H.pylori antibodies by RDT, and subjected to ABO/Rhesus blood group antigen typing. Results showed that 66.5%, 69.5%, 71% and 67.5% of patients were positive for H.pylori infection by RUT, RDT, culture, and PCR, respectiv ely. According to gender, 84.5% males and 58.9% females were H. pylori positive. The frequencies of H.pylori infection among patients with gastritis, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, and gastr ic cancer were 73.4%,
Genetic structuring of Anguis fragilis (L., 1758) inhabiting in the north of 40° north latitude in Turkey

The taxonomic situation of Anguis fragilis species is still unclear in Turkey. In order to clarify this situation, we used the DNA sequences of 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes to analyze the phylogenetic relationship among A. fragilis populations. A total of 13 haplotypes in 16S rRNA dataset and 20 haplotypes in cytochrome b dataset were detected. Kimura 2-parameter genetic distance was found to be 0.012 for 16S rRNA and 0.026 for the cytochrome b dataset. Neighbor joining (NJ) trees were constructed to analyze phylogenetic relationship among specimens and were supported with median joining networks. Results indicate a clear genetic structuring in A. fragilis populations sampled from north of 40° north latitude of Turkey. Both mitochondrial gene sequences successfully detected the intraspecific variation among specimens of different populations. Genetic structuring, correlated with geographic distance, was found to be significant at the specimens sampled from edge populations of peripherally isolated climatic conditions.